An Eye Tracking Comparison of External Pointing Cues and Internal Continuous Cues in Learning with Complex Animations

Science.gov (United States)

Boucheix, Jean-Michel; Lowe, Richard K.

2010-01-01

Two experiments used eye tracking to investigate a novel cueing approach for directing learner attention to low salience, high relevance aspects of a complex animation. In the first experiment, comprehension of a piano mechanism animation containing spreading-colour cues was compared with comprehension obtained with arrow cues or no cues. Eye…

Studies on the Th biodistribution in internal contamination by the fission track method using animals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciubotariu, M.; Danis, A.; Dumitrescu, G.; Cucu, M.

1998-01-01

In our previous studies on the U internal contamination, qualitative and quantitative results were obtained by using the fission track methods. In order to obtain complete data on the fissionable element internal contamination using animals, we started a similar study using Th as contaminating element and Wistar London breed rats as laboratory animals. Different ways to obtain internal contaminations were investigated: ingestion, inhalation, absorption by skin and through wounds. In this stage, Wistar-London breed rats of the same sex, weight and age were internal contaminated by 1 ml Th solution ingestion for each rat corresponding to an Annual Limit Intake.The animals were kept in normal life conditions and under permanent medical surveillance up to their sacrifice. Also, their evacuations where sampled every 24 hours. They were sacrificed at different time intervals after their contamination: 2 days (RAT 1), 7 days (RAT 2) and 14 days (RAT 3). After sacrifice, their vital organs were sampled, weighed, calcined, reweighed and finally analysed by track detection using the fission track micromapping technique. This technique was used in the following conditions: - mica-muscovite as track detector pre-etched for fossil tracks 18 h in HF; - the neutron irradiations were performed in the nuclear reactor VVR-S Bucharest at the neutron fluences of 3x10 15 - 2x10 16 fast neutrons/cm 2 . In order to check whether there is any U contribution to the fission track densities obtained in track detectors, U existing in the rat body due to food and water, the neutron irradiations of the ensembles were performed with and without 1 mm Cd shielding; - the visualization of the Th induced fission tracks were obtained by chemical etching in HF, 3 h at room temperature; - the Th track micromappings obtained in track detectors were studied by optical microscopy using a stereomicroscope WILD M7S for ensemble study (X6-X31) and a binocular ZEISS JENA microscope for qualitative and

Sick-leave track record and other potential predictors of a disability pension. A population based study of 8,218 men and women followed for 16 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosengren Annika

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A number of previous studies have investigated various predictors for being granted a disability pension. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of sick-leave track record as a predictor of being granted a disability pension in a large dataset based on subjects sampled from the general population and followed for a long time. Methods Data from five ongoing population-based Swedish studies was used, supplemented with data on all compensated sick leave periods, disability pensions granted, and vital status, obtained from official registers. The data set included 8,218 men and women followed for 16 years, generated 109,369 person years of observation and 97,160 sickness spells. Various measures of days of sick leave during follow up were used as independent variables and disability pension grant was used as outcome. Results There was a strong relationship between individual sickness spell duration and annual cumulative days of sick leave on the one hand and being granted a disability pension on the other, among both men and women, after adjustment for the effects of marital status, education, household size, smoking habits, geographical area and calendar time period, a proxy for position in the business cycle. The interval between sickness spells showed a corresponding inverse relationship. Of all the variables studied, the number of days of sick leave per year was the most powerful predictor of a disability pension. For both men and women 245 annual sick leave days were needed to reach a 50% probability of transition to disability. The independent variables, taken together, explained 96% of the variation in disability pension grantings. Conclusion The sick-leave track record was the most important predictor of the probability of being granted a disability pension in this study, even when the influences of other variables affecting the outcome were taken into account.

FIMTrack: An open source tracking and locomotion analysis software for small animals.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin Risse

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Imaging and analyzing the locomotion behavior of small animals such as Drosophila larvae or C. elegans worms has become an integral subject of biological research. In the past we have introduced FIM, a novel imaging system feasible to extract high contrast images. This system in combination with the associated tracking software FIMTrack is already used by many groups all over the world. However, so far there has not been an in-depth discussion of the technical aspects. Here we elaborate on the implementation details of FIMTrack and give an in-depth explanation of the used algorithms. Among others, the software offers several tracking strategies to cover a wide range of different model organisms, locomotion types, and camera properties. Furthermore, the software facilitates stimuli-based analysis in combination with built-in manual tracking and correction functionalities. All features are integrated in an easy-to-use graphical user interface. To demonstrate the potential of FIMTrack we provide an evaluation of its accuracy using manually labeled data. The source code is available under the GNU GPLv3 at https://github.com/i-git/FIMTrack and pre-compiled binaries for Windows and Mac are available at http://fim.uni-muenster.de.

Ethical issues associated with the use of animal experimentation in behavioral neuroscience research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohl, Frauke; Meijboom, Franck

2015-01-01

This chapter briefly explores whether there are distinct characteristics in the field of Behavioral Neuroscience that demand specific ethical reflection. We argue that although the ethical issues in animal-based Behavioral Neuroscience are not necessarily distinct from those in other research disciplines using animal experimentation, this field of endeavor makes a number of specific, ethically relevant, questions more explicit and, as a result, may expose to discussion a series of ethical issues that have relevance beyond this field of science. We suggest that innovative research, by its very definition, demands out-of-the-box thinking. At the same time, standardization of animal models and test procedures for the sake of comparability across experiments inhibits the potential and willingness to leave well-established tracks of thinking, and leaves us wondering how open minded research is and whether it is the researcher's established perspective that drives the research rather than the research that drives the researcher's perspective. The chapter finishes by introducing subsequent chapters of this book volume on Ethical Issues in Behavioral Neuroscience.

Sonification of Animal Tracks as an Alternative Representation of Multi-Dimensional Data: A Northern Elephant Seal Example

KAUST Repository

Duarte, Carlos M.; Riker, Paul W.; Srinivasan, Madhusudhanan; Robinson, Patrick W.; Gallo-Reynoso, Juan P.; Costa, Daniel P.

2018-01-01

Understanding movement of marine megafauna across the ocean is largely based on approaches and models based on analysis of tracks of single animals. While this has led to major progress, the possibility of concerted group dynamics has not been

Evaluation of nutrient contents of Gmelina arborea leaves as animal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

An evaluation of chemical and mineral composition different forms of Gmelina arborea (GA) leaves was investigated. Experiment 1 involve the determination of the chemical composition, mineral and anti-nutrient of green, yellow and brown leaves of GA. In experiment 2, a free choice intake study was carried out using fifteen ...

Deriving Animal Behaviour from High-Frequency GPS: Tracking Cows in Open and Forested Habitat.

Science.gov (United States)

de Weerd, Nelleke; van Langevelde, Frank; van Oeveren, Herman; Nolet, Bart A; Kölzsch, Andrea; Prins, Herbert H T; de Boer, W Fred

2015-01-01

The increasing spatiotemporal accuracy of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) tracking systems opens the possibility to infer animal behaviour from tracking data. We studied the relationship between high-frequency GNSS data and behaviour, aimed at developing an easily interpretable classification method to infer behaviour from location data. Behavioural observations were carried out during tracking of cows (Bos Taurus) fitted with high-frequency GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers. Data were obtained in an open field and forested area, and movement metrics were calculated for 1 min, 12 s and 2 s intervals. We observed four behaviour types (Foraging, Lying, Standing and Walking). We subsequently used Classification and Regression Trees to classify the simultaneously obtained GPS data as these behaviour types, based on distances and turning angles between fixes. GPS data with a 1 min interval from the open field was classified correctly for more than 70% of the samples. Data from the 12 s and 2 s interval could not be classified successfully, emphasizing that the interval should be long enough for the behaviour to be defined by its characteristic movement metrics. Data obtained in the forested area were classified with a lower accuracy (57%) than the data from the open field, due to a larger positional error of GPS locations and differences in behavioural performance influenced by the habitat type. This demonstrates the importance of understanding the relationship between behaviour and movement metrics, derived from GNSS fixes at different frequencies and in different habitats, in order to successfully infer behaviour. When spatially accurate location data can be obtained, behaviour can be inferred from high-frequency GNSS fixes by calculating simple movement metrics and using easily interpretable decision trees. This allows for the combined study of animal behaviour and habitat use based on location data, and might make it possible to detect deviations

Deriving Animal Behaviour from High-Frequency GPS: Tracking Cows in Open and Forested Habitat.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelleke de Weerd

Full Text Available The increasing spatiotemporal accuracy of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS tracking systems opens the possibility to infer animal behaviour from tracking data. We studied the relationship between high-frequency GNSS data and behaviour, aimed at developing an easily interpretable classification method to infer behaviour from location data. Behavioural observations were carried out during tracking of cows (Bos Taurus fitted with high-frequency GPS (Global Positioning System receivers. Data were obtained in an open field and forested area, and movement metrics were calculated for 1 min, 12 s and 2 s intervals. We observed four behaviour types (Foraging, Lying, Standing and Walking. We subsequently used Classification and Regression Trees to classify the simultaneously obtained GPS data as these behaviour types, based on distances and turning angles between fixes. GPS data with a 1 min interval from the open field was classified correctly for more than 70% of the samples. Data from the 12 s and 2 s interval could not be classified successfully, emphasizing that the interval should be long enough for the behaviour to be defined by its characteristic movement metrics. Data obtained in the forested area were classified with a lower accuracy (57% than the data from the open field, due to a larger positional error of GPS locations and differences in behavioural performance influenced by the habitat type. This demonstrates the importance of understanding the relationship between behaviour and movement metrics, derived from GNSS fixes at different frequencies and in different habitats, in order to successfully infer behaviour. When spatially accurate location data can be obtained, behaviour can be inferred from high-frequency GNSS fixes by calculating simple movement metrics and using easily interpretable decision trees. This allows for the combined study of animal behaviour and habitat use based on location data, and might make it possible to

A study of the anti-inflammatory effect of the leaves of Psidium guajava Linn. on experimental animal models

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Sarmistha; Das, Swarnamoni

2010-01-01

Introduction: The aim is to study the anti-inflammatory effect of the ethanolic extract of the leaves of Psidium guajava(PGE) on experimental animal models. Materials and Methods: Fresh leaves were collected, air-dried, powdered, and percolated in 95% ethanol. Acute toxicity test was done according to OECD guidelines. Four groups of animals of either sex, weighing 150–200g of the species Rattus norvegicus were taken for the study (n = 6). Group A was taken as control (3% gum acacia in 10 mL/kg body weight), Group B as test group (PGE 250 mg/kg body weight), Group C as test group (PGE 500 mg/kg body weight), and Group D as standard (Aspirin 100 mg/kg body weight). The animals were studied for acute inflammation by Carrageenan-induced rat paw edema, subacute inflammation by Granuloma pouch method, and chronic inflammation by Freund’s adjuvant-induced arthritis method. Statistical analysis was done by one-way analysis of variance followed by multiple comparison tests. Results: In acute inflammation, there was significant inhibition of paw edema in Groups B, C, and D in comparison with Group A (P < 0.05). In subacute inflammation, there was significant inhibition of exudate formation in Groups B, C, and D in comparison to Group A (P < 0.05). In chronic inflammation, there was significant inhibition of paw edema and inhibition of weight reduction in Groups B, C, and D compared with Group A. Downregulation of arthritis index was also significant in Groups B, C, and D in comparison with Group A (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The ethanolic extract of PGE has significant anti-inflammatory activity. PMID:21589759

OBIS - ARGOS Satellite Tracking of Animals

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Various species have been tracked using ARGOS PTT trackers since the early 1990's. These include Emperor, King and Adelie pengiuns, Light-mantled Sooty, Grey-headed...

Enclosure for small animals during awake animal imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Goddard, Jr., James S

2013-11-26

An enclosure or burrow restrains an awake animal during an imaging procedure. A tubular body, made from a radiolucent material that does not attenuate x-rays or gamma rays, accepts an awake animal. A proximal end of the body includes an attachment surface that corresponds to an attachment surface of an optically transparent and optically uniform window. An anti-reflective coating may be applied to an inner surface, an outer surface, or both surfaces of the window. Since the window is a separate element of the enclosure and it is not integrally formed as part of the body, it can be made with optically uniform thickness properties for improved motion tracking of markers on the animal with a camera during the imaging procedure. The motion tracking information is then used to compensate for animal movement in the image.

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-01-01

persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc

Satellite and acoustic tracking device

KAUST Repository

Berumen, Michael L.

2014-02-20

The present invention relates a method and device for tracking movements of marine animals or objects in large bodies of water and across significant distances. The method and device can track an acoustic transmitter attached to an animal or object beneath the ocean surface by employing an unmanned surface vessel equipped with a hydrophone array and GPS receiver.

Satellite and acoustic tracking device

KAUST Repository

Berumen, Michael L.; De la Torre, Pedro

2014-01-01

The present invention relates a method and device for tracking movements of marine animals or objects in large bodies of water and across significant distances. The method and device can track an acoustic transmitter attached to an animal or object beneath the ocean surface by employing an unmanned surface vessel equipped with a hydrophone array and GPS receiver.

Sonification of Animal Tracks as an Alternative Representation of Multi-Dimensional Data: A Northern Elephant Seal Example

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos M. Duarte

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Understanding movement of marine megafauna across the ocean is largely based on approaches and models based on analysis of tracks of single animals. While this has led to major progress, the possibility of concerted group dynamics has not been sufficiently examined, possibly due to challenges in exploring massive amounts of data required to this end. Here we report a sonification experiment, where the collective movement of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris was explored by coding their group dynamics into sound. Specifically, we converted into sound data derived from a tagging program involving a total of 321 tagged animals tracked over a decade, between 20 February 2004 and 30 May 2014, consisting of an observation period of 90,063 h, composed of 1,027,839 individual positions. The data parameters used to provide the sound are position (longitude and spread (degree of displacement taken for the active group. These data parameters are mapped to the sonic parameters of frequency (pitch and amplitude (volume, respectively. Examination of the resulting sound revealed features of motion that translate into specific patterns in space. The serial departure of elephant seals to initiate their trips into waves is clearly reflected in the addition of tonalities, with coherent swimming of the animals conforming a wave reflected in the modulated fluctuations in volume, suggesting coordinated fluctuations in dispersion of the wave. Smooth changes in volume, coordinated with pitch variability, indicate that the animals spread out as they move further away from the colony, with one or a few animals exploring an ocean area away from that explored by the core wave. The shift in volume and pitch also signals at group coordination in initiating the return home. Coordinated initiation of the return to the colony is also clearly revealed by the sonification, as reflected in an increase in volume and pitch of the notes denoting the movement of each

Sonification of Animal Tracks as an Alternative Representation of Multi-Dimensional Data: A Northern Elephant Seal Example

KAUST Repository

Duarte, Carlos M.

2018-04-20

Understanding movement of marine megafauna across the ocean is largely based on approaches and models based on analysis of tracks of single animals. While this has led to major progress, the possibility of concerted group dynamics has not been sufficiently examined, possibly due to challenges in exploring massive amounts of data required to this end. Here we report a sonification experiment, where the collective movement of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) was explored by coding their group dynamics into sound. Specifically, we converted into sound data derived from a tagging program involving a total of 321 tagged animals tracked over a decade, between 20 February 2004 and 30 May 2014, consisting of an observation period of 90,063 h, composed of 1,027,839 individual positions. The data parameters used to provide the sound are position (longitude) and spread (degree of displacement taken for the active group). These data parameters are mapped to the sonic parameters of frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume), respectively. Examination of the resulting sound revealed features of motion that translate into specific patterns in space. The serial departure of elephant seals to initiate their trips into waves is clearly reflected in the addition of tonalities, with coherent swimming of the animals conforming a wave reflected in the modulated fluctuations in volume, suggesting coordinated fluctuations in dispersion of the wave. Smooth changes in volume, coordinated with pitch variability, indicate that the animals spread out as they move further away from the colony, with one or a few animals exploring an ocean area away from that explored by the core wave. The shift in volume and pitch also signals at group coordination in initiating the return home. Coordinated initiation of the return to the colony is also clearly revealed by the sonification, as reflected in an increase in volume and pitch of the notes denoting the movement of each animal in a

Source tracking swine fecal waste in surface water proximal to swine concentrated animal feeding operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Heaney, Christopher D; Myers, Kevin; Wing, Steve; Hall, Devon; Baron, Dothula; Stewart, Jill R

2015-04-01

Swine farming has gone through many changes in the last few decades, resulting in operations with a high animal density known as confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). These operations produce a large quantity of fecal waste whose environmental impacts are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate microbial water quality in surface waters proximal to swine CAFOs including microbial source tracking of fecal microbes specific to swine. For one year, surface water samples at up- and downstream sites proximal to swine CAFO lagoon waste land application sites were tested for fecal indicator bacteria (fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus) and candidate swine-specific microbial source-tracking (MST) markers (Bacteroidales Pig-1-Bac, Pig-2-Bac, and Pig-Bac-2, and methanogen P23-2). Testing of 187 samples showed high fecal indicator bacteria concentrations at both up- and downstream sites. Overall, 40%, 23%, and 61% of samples exceeded state and federal recreational water quality guidelines for fecal coliforms, E. coli, and Enterococcus, respectively. Pig-1-Bac and Pig-2-Bac showed the highest specificity to swine fecal wastes and were 2.47 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.03, 5.94) and 2.30 times (95% CI=0.90, 5.88) as prevalent proximal down- than proximal upstream of swine CAFOs, respectively. Pig-1-Bac and Pig-2-Bac were also 2.87 (95% CI=1.21, 6.80) and 3.36 (95% CI=1.34, 8.41) times as prevalent when 48 hour antecedent rainfall was greater than versus less than the mean, respectively. Results suggest diffuse and overall poor sanitary quality of surface waters where swine CAFO density is high. Pig-1-Bac and Pig-2-Bac are useful for tracking off-site conveyance of swine fecal wastes into surface waters proximal to and downstream of swine CAFOs and during rain events. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

iTAG: Integrating a Cloud Based, Collaborative Animal Tracking Network into the GCOOS data portal in the Gulf of Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Kirkpatrick, B. A.; Currier, R. D.; Simoniello, C.

2016-02-01

The tagging and tracking of aquatic animals using acoustic telemetry hardware has traditionally been the purview of individual researchers that specialize in single species. Concerns over data privacy and unauthorized use of receiver arrays have prevented the construction of large-scale, multi-species, multi-institution, multi-researcher collaborative acoustic arrays. We have developed a toolset to build the new portal using the Flask microframework, Python language, and Twitter bootstrap. Initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The privacy policy has been praised for its granularity: principal investigators can choose between three levels of privacy for all data and hardware: Completely private - viewable only by the PI Visible to iTAG members Visible to the general public At the time of this writing iTAG is still in the beta stage, but the feedback received to date indicates that with the proper design and security features, and an iterative cycle of feedback from potential members, constructing a collaborative acoustic tracking network system is possible. Initial usage will be limited to the entry and searching for `orphan/mystery' tags, with the integration of historical array deployments and data following shortly thereafter. We have also been working with staff from the Ocean Tracking Network to allow for integration of the two systems. The database schema of iTAG is based on the marine metadata convention for acoustic telemetry. This should permit machine-to-machine data exchange between iTAG and OTN. The integration of animal telemetry data into the GCOOS portal will allow researchers to easily access the physiochemical oceanography data, thus allowing for a more in depth understanding of animal response and usage patterns.

A MODELING METHOD OF FLUTTERING LEAVES BASED ON POINT CLOUD

OpenAIRE

J. Tang; Y. Wang; Y. Zhao; Y. Zhao; W. Hao; X. Ning; K. Lv; Z. Shi; M. Zhao

2017-01-01

Leaves falling gently or fluttering are common phenomenon in nature scenes. The authenticity of leaves falling plays an important part in the dynamic modeling of natural scenes. The leaves falling model has a widely applications in the field of animation and virtual reality. We propose a novel modeling method of fluttering leaves based on point cloud in this paper. According to the shape, the weight of leaves and the wind speed, three basic trajectories of leaves falling are defined, which ar...

Tracking by flow cytometry antigen-specific follicular helper T cells in wild-type animals after protein vaccination.

Science.gov (United States)

Chakarov, Svetoslav; Fazilleau, Nicolas

2015-01-01

Flow cytometry is a valuable technology used in immunology to characterize and enumerate the different cell subpopulations specific for a nonself-antigen in the context of an ongoing immune response. Among them, follicular helper T cells are the cognate regulators of B cells in secondary lymphoid tissues. Thus, tracking them is of high interest especially in the context of protein vaccination. For this purpose, transgenic antigen-receptor mouse models have been largely used. It is now clear that transgenic models are not always the best means to study the dynamics of the immune response since they can modify the response. In this chapter, we describe how to track endogenous antigen-specific follicular helper T cells by flow cytometry after protein vaccination in nonmodified wild-type animals, which ultimately provides a comprehensive way to enumerate, characterize, and isolate these particular cells in vivo.

Reconstructing events, from electronic signals to tracks

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2015-01-01

Reconstructing tracks in the events taken by LHC experiments is one of the most challenging and computationally expensive software tasks to be carried out in the data processing chain. A typical LHC event is composed of multiple p-p interactions, each leaving signals from many charged particles in the detector and jus building up an environment of unprecedented complexity. In the lecture I will give an overview of event reconstruction in a typical High Energy Physics experiment. After an introduction to particle tracking detectors I will discuss the concepts and techniques required to master the tracking challenge at the LHC. I will explain how track propagation in a realistic detector works, present different techniques for track fitting and track finding. At the end we will see how all of those techniques play together in the ATLAS track reconstruction application.

Targeting neurotransmitter receptors with nanoparticles in vivo allows single-molecule tracking in acute brain slices

Science.gov (United States)

Varela, Juan A.; Dupuis, Julien P.; Etchepare, Laetitia; Espana, Agnès; Cognet, Laurent; Groc, Laurent

2016-03-01

Single-molecule imaging has changed the way we understand many biological mechanisms, particularly in neurobiology, by shedding light on intricate molecular events down to the nanoscale. However, current single-molecule studies in neuroscience have been limited to cultured neurons or organotypic slices, leaving as an open question the existence of fast receptor diffusion in intact brain tissue. Here, for the first time, we targeted dopamine receptors in vivo with functionalized quantum dots and were able to perform single-molecule tracking in acute rat brain slices. We propose a novel delocalized and non-inflammatory way of delivering nanoparticles (NPs) in vivo to the brain, which allowed us to label and track genetically engineered surface dopamine receptors in neocortical neurons, revealing inherent behaviour and receptor activity regulations. We thus propose a NP-based platform for single-molecule studies in the living brain, opening new avenues of research in physiological and pathological animal models.

Standardized phenology monitoring methods to track plant and animal activity for science and resource management applications

Science.gov (United States)

Denny, Ellen G.; Gerst, Katharine L.; Miller-Rushing, Abraham J.; Tierney, Geraldine L.; Crimmins, Theresa M.; Enquist, Carolyn A.F.; Guertin, Patricia; Rosemartin, Alyssa H.; Schwartz, Mark D.; Thomas, Kathryn A.; Weltzin, Jake F.

2014-01-01

Phenology offers critical insights into the responses of species to climate change; shifts in species’ phenologies can result in disruptions to the ecosystem processes and services upon which human livelihood depends. To better detect such shifts, scientists need long-term phenological records covering many taxa and across a broad geographic distribution. To date, phenological observation efforts across the USA have been geographically limited and have used different methods, making comparisons across sites and species difficult. To facilitate coordinated cross-site, cross-species, and geographically extensive phenological monitoring across the nation, the USA National Phenology Network has developed in situ monitoring protocols standardized across taxonomic groups and ecosystem types for terrestrial, freshwater, and marine plant and animal taxa. The protocols include elements that allow enhanced detection and description of phenological responses, including assessment of phenological “status”, or the ability to track presence–absence of a particular phenophase, as well as standards for documenting the degree to which phenological activity is expressed in terms of intensity or abundance. Data collected by this method can be integrated with historical phenology data sets, enabling the development of databases for spatial and temporal assessment of changes in status and trends of disparate organisms. To build a common, spatially, and temporally extensive multi-taxa phenological data set available for a variety of research and science applications, we encourage scientists, resources managers, and others conducting ecological monitoring or research to consider utilization of these standardized protocols for tracking the seasonal activity of plants and animals.

Improvements to Passive Acoustic Tracking Methods for Marine Mammal Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-02

separate and associate calls from individual animals . Marine mammal; Passive acoustic monitoring; Localization; Tracking; Multiple source; Sparse array...position and hydrophone timing offset in addition to animal position Almost all marine mammal tracking methods treat animal position as the only unknown...Workshop on Detection, Classification and Localization (DCL) of Marine Mammals). The animals were expected to be relatively close to the surface

SWISTRACK - AN OPEN SOURCE, SOFTWARE PACKAGE APPLICABLE TO TRACKING OF FISH LOCOMOTION AND BEHAVIOUR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steffensen, John Fleng

2010-01-01

including swimming speed, acceleration and directionality of movements as well as the examination of locomotory panems during swimming. SWiSlrdL:k, a [n: t; and downloadable software package (available from www.sourceforge.com) is widely used for tracking robots, humans and other animals. Accordingly......, Swistrack can be easily adopted for the tracking offish. Benefits associated with the free software include: • Contrast or marker based tracking enabling tracking of either the whole animal, or tagged marks placed upon the animal • The ability to track multiple tags placed upon an individual animal • Highly...... effective background subtraction algorithms and filters ensuring smooth tracking of fish • Application of tags of different colour enables the software to track multiple fish without the problem of track exchange between individuals • Low processing requirements enable tracking in real-time • Further...

The Freedoms and Capabilities of Farm Animals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cabaret, Jacques; Chylinski, Caroline; Vaarst, Mette

2014-01-01

Organic farming promotes animal husbandry practices that consider the welfare of the animals on the farm. The concept of animal welfare and the standards that should encompass this concept have in many cases been largely generalised in practice, which leaves relevant aspects of animal freedom...

Semi-automated tracking of behaviour of Betta splendens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Durey, Maëlle; Paulsen, Rasmus Reinhold; Matessi, Giuliano

2010-01-01

In this paper, a novel software system for animal behaviour tracking is described. It is used for tracking fish filmed in aquariums using a low quality acquisition system. The tracking is based on a multiscale template matching technique that finds both the position and the orientation of the tra......In this paper, a novel software system for animal behaviour tracking is described. It is used for tracking fish filmed in aquariums using a low quality acquisition system. The tracking is based on a multiscale template matching technique that finds both the position and the orientation...... of the tracked fish. The template is matched in the background subtracted frames, where the background is estimated using a median based approach. The system is very stable and has been used in a large behavioural study design to the use of the behavioural pattern known as mate choice copying in Betta splendens....

Autoshaping in adolescence enhances sign-tracking behavior in adulthood: impact on ethanol consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Rachel I; Spear, Linda P

2011-04-01

Autoshaping refers to a procedure during which a cue repeatedly paired with a reward elicits a conditioned response directed at either the reward delivery location ("goal-tracking") or the cue itself ("sign- tracking"). Individual differences in expression of sign-tracking behavior may be predictive of voluntary ethanol intake. The present study was designed to explore the development of differences in sign-tracking behavior in adolescent and adult male and female rats in an 8-day autoshaping procedure. Consistency of sign-tracking and goal-tracking across age was examined by retesting adolescents again in adulthood and comparing their adult data with animals tested only as adults to explore pre-exposure effects on adult responding. In order to assess the relationship between sign-tracking and ethanol intake, voluntary ethanol consumption was measured in an 8-day, 2-hr limited access drinking paradigm following the 8-day autoshaping procedure in adulthood. Animals tested as adolescents showed notably less sign-tracking behavior than animals tested as adults, and sign-tracking behavior was not correlated across age. Animals exposed to the autoshaping procedure as adolescents demonstrated greater sign-tracking behavior as adults when compared to control animals tested only in adulthood. When examining the relationship in adulthood between sign-tracking and ethanol intake, an increase in ethanol intake among sign-trackers was found only in animals pre-exposed to autoshaping as adolescents. Whether or not these results reflect an adolescent-specific experience effect is unclear without further work to determine whether comparable pre-exposure effects are seen if the initial autoshaping sessions are delayed into adulthood. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Linking live animals and products: traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Britt, A G; Bell, C M; Evers, K; Paskin, R

2013-08-01

It is rarely possible to successfully contain an outbreak of an infectious animal disease, or to respond effectively to a chemical residue incident, without the use of a system for identifying and tracking animals. The linking of animals at the time they are slaughtered--through the use of identification devices or marks and accompanying movement documentation--with the meat produced from their carcasses, adds further value from the perspective of consumer safety. Over the past decade, animal identification technology has become more sophisticated and affordable. The development of the Internet and mobile communication tools, complemented bythe expanded capacity of computers and associated data management applications, has added a new dimension to the ability of Competent Authorities and industry to track animals and the food they produce for disease control, food safety and commercial purposes.

LEAVES EXTRACT OF MURRAYA KOENIGII LINN FOR ANTIINFLAMMATORY AND ANALGESIC ACTIVITY IN ANIMAL MODELS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ganesh N. Sharma

2010-03-01

Full Text Available This work has been done for the investigation of the anti-inflammatory andanalgesic activity of methanol extract of dried leaves of Murraya koenigii Linn by oraladministration at dose of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight, to healthy animals.Extract was studied for its anti-inflammatory activity by using carrageenan-induced hindpaw edema in albino rats and the mean increase in paw volume and % inhibition in pawvolume were measured plethysmometrically at different time intervals after carrageenan(1% w/v injection. Extract was also evaluated for analgesic activity using Eddy’s hotplate method and formalin induced paw licking method in albino rats. The methanolextract showed significant (P < 0.001 reduction in the carrageenan-induced paw edemaand analgesic activity evidenced by increase in the reaction time by eddy’s hot platemethod and percentage increase in pain in formalin test. The methanol extract showedanti-inflammatory and analgesic effect in dose dependent manner when compared withthe control and standard drug, diclofenac sodium (10mg/kg, p.o. These inhibitions werestatistically significant (P < 0.05. Thus our investigation suggests a potential benefit ofMurraya koenigii in treating conditions associated with inflammatory pain.

Phototropic solar tracking in sunflower plants: an integrative perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Kutschera, Ulrich; Briggs, Winslow R.

2016-01-01

Background One of the best-known plant movements, phototropic solar tracking in sunflower (Helianthus annuus), has not yet been fully characterized. Two questions are still a matter of debate. (1) Is the adaptive significance solely an optimization of photosynthesis via the exposure of the leaves to the sun? (2) Is shade avoidance involved in this process? In this study, these concepts are discussed from a historical perspective and novel insights are provided. Scope and Methods Results from the primary literature on heliotropic growth movements led to the conclusion that these responses cease before anthesis, so that the flowering heads point to the East. Based on observations on 10-week-old plants, the diurnal East–West oscillations of the upper fifth of the growing stem and leaves in relation to the position of the sun (inclusive of nocturnal re-orientation) were documented, and photon fluence rates on the leaf surfaces on clear, cloudy and rainy days were determined. In addition, the light–response curve of net CO2 assimilation was determined on the upper leaves of the same batch of plants, and evidence for the occurrence of shade-avoidance responses in growing sunflower plants is summarized. Conclusions. Only elongating, vegetative sunflower shoots and the upper leaves perform phototropic solar tracking. Photon fluence response and CO2 assimilation measurements cast doubt on the ‘photosynthesis-optimization hypothesis’ as the sole explanation for the evolution of these plant movements. We suggest that the shade-avoidance response, which maximizes light-driven CO2 assimilation, plays a major role in solar tracking populations of competing sunflower plants, and an integrative scheme of these growth movements is provided. PMID:26420201

Dust Devil Tracks

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

(Released 8 May 2002) The Science This image, centered near 50.0 S and 17.7 W displays dust devil tracks on the surface. Most of the lighter portions of the image likely have a thin veneer of dust settled on the surface. As a dust devil passes over the surface, it acts as a vacuum and picks up the dust, leaving the darker substrate exposed. In this image there is a general trend of many of the tracks running from east to west or west to east, indicating the general wind direction. There is often no general trend present in dust devil tracks seen in other images. The track patterns are quite ephemeral and can completely change or even disappear over the course of a few months. Dust devils are one of the mechanisms that Mars uses to constantly pump dust into the ubiquitously dusty atmosphere. This atmospheric dust is one of the main driving forces of the present Martian climate. The Story Vrrrrooooooooom. Think of a tornado, the cartoon Tasmanian devil, or any number of vacuum commercials that powerfully suck up swirls of dust and dirt. That's pretty much what it's like on the surface of Mars a lot of the time. Whirlpools of wind called

Teaching Animal Habitat Selection Using Wildlife Tracking Equipment

Science.gov (United States)

Laskowski, Jessica; Gillespie, Caitlyn; Corral, Lucia; Oden, Amy; Fricke, Kent; Fontaine, Joseph J.

2016-01-01

We present a hands-on outdoor activity coupled with classroom discussion to teach students about wildlife habitat selection, the process by which animals choose where to live. By selecting locations or habitats with many benefits (e.g., food, shelter, mates) and few costs (e.g., predators), animals improve their ability to survive and reproduce.…

a Modeling Method of Fluttering Leaves Based on Point Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, J.; Wang, Y.; Zhao, Y.; Hao, W.; Ning, X.; Lv, K.; Shi, Z.; Zhao, M.

2017-09-01

Leaves falling gently or fluttering are common phenomenon in nature scenes. The authenticity of leaves falling plays an important part in the dynamic modeling of natural scenes. The leaves falling model has a widely applications in the field of animation and virtual reality. We propose a novel modeling method of fluttering leaves based on point cloud in this paper. According to the shape, the weight of leaves and the wind speed, three basic trajectories of leaves falling are defined, which are the rotation falling, the roll falling and the screw roll falling. At the same time, a parallel algorithm based on OpenMP is implemented to satisfy the needs of real-time in practical applications. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is amenable to the incorporation of a variety of desirable effects.

To tag or not to tag: animal welfare, conservation and stakeholder considerations in fish tracking studies that use electronic tags

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cooke, Steven J.; Nguyen, Vivian M.; Murchie, Karen J.; Thiem, Jason D.; Donaldson, Michael R.; Hinch, Scott G.; Brown, Richard S.; Fisk, Aaron

2013-11-01

The advent and widespread adoption of electronic tags (including biotelemetry and biologging devices) for tracking animals has provided unprecedented information on the biology, management, and conservation of fish in the world’s oceans and inland waters. However, use of these tools is not without controversy. Even when scientific and management objectives may best be achieved using electronic tags, it is increasingly important to further consider other factors such as the welfare of tagged animals (i.e., the role of training and science-based surgical guidelines, anesthetic use, inability to maintain sterile conditions in field environments), the ethics of tagging threatened species vs. using surrogates, stakeholder perspectives on tagging (including aboriginals), as well as use of data emanating from such studies (e.g., by fishers to facilitate exploitation). Failure to do so will have the potential to create conflict and undermine scientific, management and public confidence in the use of this powerful tool. Indeed, there are already a number of examples of where tracking studies using electronic tags have been halted based on concerns raised by researchers, authorities, or stakeholders. Here we present a candid evaluation of several factors that should be considered when determining when to tag or not to tag fish with electronic devices. It is not our objective to judge the merit of previous studies. Rather, we hope to stimulate debate and discussion regarding the use of electronic tags to study fish. Relatedly, there is a need for more research to address these questions (e.g., what level of cleanliness is needed when conducting surgeries, what type of training should be required for fish surgery) including human dimensions studies to understand perspectives of different actors including society as a whole with respect to tagging and tracking studies.

What is the animal doing? Tools for exploring behavioural structure in animal movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Gurarie, Eliezer; Bracis, Chloe; Delgado, Maria; Meckley, Trevor D; Kojola, Ilpo; Wagner, C Michael

2016-01-01

Movement data provide a window - often our only window - into the cognitive, social and biological processes that underlie the behavioural ecology of animals in the wild. Robust methods for identifying and interpreting distinct modes of movement behaviour are of great importance, but complicated by the fact that movement data are complex, multivariate and dependent. Many different approaches to exploratory analysis of movement have been developed to answer similar questions, and practitioners are often at a loss for how to choose an appropriate tool for a specific question. We apply and compare four methodological approaches: first passage time (FPT), Bayesian partitioning of Markov models (BPMM), behavioural change point analysis (BCPA) and a fitted multistate random walk (MRW) to three simulated tracks and two animal trajectories - a sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) tracked for 12 h and a wolf (Canis lupus) tracked for 1 year. The simulations - in which, respectively, velocity, tortuosity and spatial bias change - highlight the sensitivity of all methods to model misspecification. Methods that do not account for autocorrelation in the movement variables lead to spurious change points, while methods that do not account for spatial bias completely miss changes in orientation. When applied to the animal data, the methods broadly agree on the structure of the movement behaviours. Important discrepancies, however, reflect differences in the assumptions and nature of the outputs. Important trade-offs are between the strength of the a priori assumptions (low in BCPA, high in MRW), complexity of output (high in the BCPA, low in the BPMM and MRW) and explanatory potential (highest in the MRW). The animal track analysis suggests some general principles for the exploratory analysis of movement data, including ways to exploit the strengths of the various methods. We argue for close and detailed exploratory analysis of movement before fitting complex movement models. © 2015

Analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of ethanol extracted leaves of selected medicinal plants in animal model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad M. Hassan

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Aim: The research was carried out to investigate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of ethanol extract of Desmodium pauciflorum, Mangifera indica and Andrographis paniculata leaves. Materials and Methods: In order to assess the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects acetic acid induced writhing response model and carrageenan induced paw edema model were used in Swiss albino mice and Wistar albino rats, respectively. In both cases, leaves extract were administered (2gm/kg body weight and the obtained effects were compared with commercially available analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug Dclofenac sodium (40mg/kg body weight. Distilled water (2ml/kg body weight was used as a control for the study. Results: In analgesic bioassay, oral administration of the ethanol extract of leaves were significantly (p<0.01 reduced the writhing response. The efficacy of leaves extract were almost 35% in Desmodium pauciflorum, 56% in Mangifera indica and 34% in Andrographis paniculata which is found comparable to the effect of standard analgesic drug diclofenac sodium (76%. Leaves extract reduced paw edema in variable percentages but they did not show any significant difference among the leaves. Conclusion: We recommend further research on these plant leaves for possible isolation and characterization of the various active chemical substances which has the toxic and medicinal values. [Vet World 2013; 6(2.000: 68-71

REMINDER Saved Leave Scheme (SLS) : Transfer of leave to saved leave accounts

CERN Multimedia

HR Division

2002-01-01

Under the provisions of the voluntary saved leave scheme (SLS), a maximum total of 10 days'*) annual and compensatory leave (excluding saved leave accumulated in accordance with the provisions of Administrative Circular No. 22B) can be transferred to the saved leave account at the end of the leave year (30 September). We remind you that, since last year, unused leave of all those taking part in the saved leave scheme at the closure of the leave-year accounts is transferred automatically to the saved leave account on that date. Therefore, staff members have no administrative steps to take. In addition, the transfer, which eliminates the risk of omitting to request leave transfers and rules out calculation errors in transfer requests, will be clearly shown in the list of leave transactions that can be consulted in EDH from October 2002 onwards. Furthermore, this automatic leave transfer optimizes staff members' chances of benefiting from a saved leave bonus provided that they are still participants in the schem...

A MODELING METHOD OF FLUTTERING LEAVES BASED ON POINT CLOUD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Tang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Leaves falling gently or fluttering are common phenomenon in nature scenes. The authenticity of leaves falling plays an important part in the dynamic modeling of natural scenes. The leaves falling model has a widely applications in the field of animation and virtual reality. We propose a novel modeling method of fluttering leaves based on point cloud in this paper. According to the shape, the weight of leaves and the wind speed, three basic trajectories of leaves falling are defined, which are the rotation falling, the roll falling and the screw roll falling. At the same time, a parallel algorithm based on OpenMP is implemented to satisfy the needs of real-time in practical applications. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is amenable to the incorporation of a variety of desirable effects.

Video-based Chinese Input System via Fingertip Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chih-Chang Yu

2012-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a system to detect and track fingertips online and recognize Mandarin Phonetic Symbol (MPS for user-friendly Chinese input purposes. Using fingertips and cameras to replace pens and touch panels as input devices could reduce the cost and improve the ease-of-use and comfort of computer-human interface. In the proposed framework, particle filters with enhanced appearance models are applied for robust fingertip tracking. Afterwards, MPS combination recognition is performed on the tracked fingertip trajectories using Hidden Markov Models. In the proposed system, the fingertips of the users could be robustly tracked. Also, the challenges of entering, leaving and virtual strokes caused by video-based fingertip input can be overcome. Experimental results have shown the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed work.

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-04-13

In this thesis, we propose a new aerial video dataset and benchmark for low altitude UAV target tracking, as well as, a photo-realistic UAV simulator that can be coupled with tracking methods. Our benchmark provides the rst evaluation of many state of-the-art and popular trackers on 123 new and fully annotated HD video sequences captured from a low-altitude aerial perspective. Among the compared trackers, we determine which ones are the most suitable for UAV tracking both in terms of tracking accuracy and run-time. We also present a simulator that can be used to evaluate tracking algorithms in real-time scenarios before they are deployed on a UAV "in the field", as well as, generate synthetic but photo-realistic tracking datasets with free ground truth annotations to easily extend existing real-world datasets. Both the benchmark and simulator will be made publicly available to the vision community to further research in the area of object tracking from UAVs. Additionally, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by \\'handing over the camera\\' from one UAV to another. We integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Why not look at animals?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anat Pick

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Revisiting John Berger’s seminal essay ‘Why Look at Animals?’ (1980, this essay inverts Berger’s title in order to explore instances where the visibility of animals is at stake and where seeing is linked to forms of surveillance and control. In the context of advanced optical and tracking technologies that render animals permanently visible, the possibility of not-seeing emerges as a progressive modality of relation to animals that takes seriously the notion of animal privacy and the exposed animal’s resistance to the human gaze.

Nearly automatic motion capture system for tracking octopus arm movements in 3D space.

Science.gov (United States)

Zelman, Ido; Galun, Meirav; Akselrod-Ballin, Ayelet; Yekutieli, Yoram; Hochner, Binyamin; Flash, Tamar

2009-08-30

Tracking animal movements in 3D space is an essential part of many biomechanical studies. The most popular technique for human motion capture uses markers placed on the skin which are tracked by a dedicated system. However, this technique may be inadequate for tracking animal movements, especially when it is impossible to attach markers to the animal's body either because of its size or shape or because of the environment in which the animal performs its movements. Attaching markers to an animal's body may also alter its behavior. Here we present a nearly automatic markerless motion capture system that overcomes these problems and successfully tracks octopus arm movements in 3D space. The system is based on three successive tracking and processing stages. The first stage uses a recently presented segmentation algorithm to detect the movement in a pair of video sequences recorded by two calibrated cameras. In the second stage, the results of the first stage are processed to produce 2D skeletal representations of the moving arm. Finally, the 2D skeletons are used to reconstruct the octopus arm movement as a sequence of 3D curves varying in time. Motion tracking, segmentation and reconstruction are especially difficult problems in the case of octopus arm movements because of the deformable, non-rigid structure of the octopus arm and the underwater environment in which it moves. Our successful results suggest that the motion-tracking system presented here may be used for tracking other elongated objects.

Evaluation of Antidepressant-like Effect of Citrus Maxima Leaves in Animal Models of Depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Potdar, Vikram H; Kibile, Swati J

2011-09-01

This study planned to assess antidepressant like activity of aqueous extract from leaves of Citrus maxima Merr. (Rutaceae). Boiling was used for aqueous extraction. Acute toxicity study was performed in mice. Antidepressant activity was studied using locomotor activity test, modified forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST). Three doses 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg of aqueous extract of leaves were selected for testing. Fluoxetine (20 mg/kg, i.p.) and imipramine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) were used as the standard drugs. Aqueous extract of Citrus maxima leaves significantly reduced immobility time in both TST and FST. In locomotor activity testing it showed psychostimulant effect. Extract increased the climbing behavior in FST, which is similar to effect observed with imipramine. The results of this study suggest that antidepressant like effect of Citrus maxima seems to be mediated by an increase in norepinephrine level in synapses.

Are ship tracks useful analogs for studying the aerosol indirect effect?

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, M.; Toll, V.; Stephens, G. L.

2017-12-01

Vessels transiting the ocean sometimes leave their mark on the clouds - leaving behind reflective cloud lines, known as ship tracks. Ship tracks have been looked upon by some as a possible Rosetta Stone connecting the effects of changing aerosol over the ocean and cloud albedo effects on climate (Porch et al. 1990, Atmos. Enviorn., 1051-1059). In this research, we establish whether ship tracks, and volcano tracks - a natural analog, can be used to relate these cloud-scale perturbations to the aerosol effects occurring at larger regional-scales. Two databases containing over 1,500 ship and 900 volcano tracks, all carefully hand-selected from satellite imagery, are utilized; showing that ship tracks exhibit very similar cloud albedo effect responses to that of volcano tracks. For comparison, our global dataset utilises over 7 million CloudSat profiles consisting of single-layer marine warm cloud in which the retrievals are co-located with the MODerate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) product so that statistical relationships between aerosol and cloud can be computed over 4x4 degree regions. All datasets show the same key physical processes that govern the cloud-aerosol indirect effect, namely, the strong negative responses in cloud droplet size and the bidirectional responses in liquid water path and cloud albedo depending on the meteorological conditions. Finally, this analysis is extended to a comparison against several general circulation models where it is suggested that key processes such as cloud-top entrainment and evaporation that regulates against strong liquid water path responses are likely underrepresented in most models.

Discovery Mondays - 'Particle tracks: Seeing the invisible'

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

Simulation of particle tracks in the CMS detector. How can you 'see' something as infinitesimal and fleeting as an elementary particle that defeats even the most powerful microscope? Well, physicists have detectors to snoop on them. Unlike biologists looking at bacteria, physicists don't see the particles themselves. They study their impact on sensitive materials as they pass through them at ultra high speed, a bit like seeing plane vapour trails in a clear sky. At the next Discovery Monday you will be able to find out about the different methods used at CERN to detect particles. There will be demonstrations of the cloud chamber, where particles leave tell-tale evidence of their passage in tracks of droplets. You will also learn about past and current particle track detection techniques and how the tracks are reconstructed into magnificent composite images. Don't miss this opportunity to learn about the various ways of 'seeing' particles. The event will be conducted in French. Come along to the Microcosm ...

Leaves extract of Murraya Koenigii linn for anti--inflammatory and analgesic activity in animal models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shailly Gupta

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This work has been done for the investigation of the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of methanol extract of dried leaves of Murraya koenigii Linn by oral administration at dose of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight, to healthy animals. Extract was studied for its anti-inflammatory activity by using carrageenan-induced hind paw edema in albino rats and the mean increase in paw volume and % inhibition in paw volume were measured plethysmometrically at different time intervals after carrageenan (1% w/v injection. Extract was also evaluated for analgesic activity using Eddy′s hot plate method and formalin induced paw licking method in albino rats. The methanol extract showed significant (P < 0.001 reduction in the carrageenan-induced paw edema and analgesic activity evidenced by increase in the reaction time by eddy′s hot plate method and percentage increase in pain in formalin test. The methanol extract showed anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect in dose dependent manner when compared with the control and standard drug, diclofenac sodium (10mg/kg, p.o. These inhibitions were statistically significant (P < 0.05. Thus our investigation suggests a potential benefit of Murraya koenigii in treating conditions associated with inflammatory pain.

Cassava leaves in combination with sera onggok and rice bran as supplements in buffaloes ration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hendratno, C.; Sofian, L.A.; Abidin, Z.; Bahaudin, R.; Suharyono.

1988-01-01

Two experiments have been undertaken to evaluate the utilization of cassava leaves in combination with sera onggok or rice bran as supplements in buffalo ration under traditional village condition. In experiment 1, 16 buffaloes were divided in four groups, each receiving a different ration ranging from mixed forage alone to mixed forage supplemented with a combination of cassava leaves and sera onggok or rice bran. Changes in dry metter consumption, daily weight gain, feed convertion ratio and incom over feed cost were assesed. Experiments 2 covered an in vitro study on the changes in rumen fermentation as affected by different rations. The results of experiment 1 indicated the lack of differences in dry matter consumption. However, the daily weight gain, feed convertion ratio and income over feed cost (IOFC) higher in animal receiving mixed forage suplement with cassava leaves in combination with either sera onggok or rice bran as compared to those of animal receiving mixed forage or mixed forage supplemented with cassava leaves. Experiment 2 revealed that amonia concentration and volatile fatty acid production were able to support a higher microbil activity supplemented with cassava leaves in combination with either sera onggok or rice bran as compared to those receiving the other two rations. In conclusion it is obvious that cassava leaves in combination with either sera onggok or rice bran used as supplements could promote a better production in animal in the villages. (author). 7 refs, 1 fig, 5 tabs

In Vivo Digestibility of Molasses-Treated Fresh Banana Leaves ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

treated fresh banana leaves in West African Dwarf sheep was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm and Animal Nutrition Laboratory of the University of Dschang between August and September 2009. For this, six sheep were used and ...

From Sensor Data to Animal Behaviour: An Oystercatcher Example

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shamoun-Baranes, J.; Bom, R.; van Loon, E.E.; Ens, B.J.; Oosterbeek, K.; Bouten, W.

2012-01-01

Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies,

From sensor data to animal behaviour: an oystercatcher example

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shamoun-Baranes, J.; Bom, R.; van Loon, E.E.; Ens, B.J.; Oosterbeek, K.; Bouten, W.

2012-01-01

Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies,

Human and animal sentinels for shared health risks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Rabinowitz, MD, MPH

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The tracking of sentinel health events in humans in order to detect and manage disease risks facing a larger population is a well accepted technique applied to influenza, occupational conditions and emerging infectious diseases. Similarly, animal health professionals routinely track disease events in sentinel animal colonies and sentinel herds. The use of animals as sentinels for human health threats, or of humans as sentinels for animal disease risk, dates back at least to the era when coal miners brought caged canaries into mines to provide early warning of toxic gases. Yet the full potential of linking animal and human health information to provide warning of such ‘shared risks’ from environmental hazards has not been realised. Reasons appear to include the professional segregation of human and animal health communities, the separation of human and animal surveillance data and evidence gaps in the linkages between human and animal responses to environmental health hazards. The ‘One Health initiative’ and growing international collaboration in response to pandemic threats, coupled with development in the fields of informatics and genomics, hold promise for improved sentinel event coordination in order to detect and reduce environmental health threats shared between species.

Saved Leave Scheme (SLS) : Simplified procedure for the transfer of leave to saved leave accounts

CERN Multimedia

HR Division

2001-01-01

As part of the process of streamlining procedures, the HR and AS Divisions have jointly developed a system whereby annual and compensatory leave will henceforth be automatically transferred1) to saved leave accounts. Under the provisions of the voluntary saved leave scheme (SLS), a maximum total of 10 days'2) annual and compensatory leave (excluding saved leave accumulated in accordance with the provisions of Administrative Circular No. 22 B) can be transferred to the saved leave account at the end of the leave year (30 September). Previously, every person taking part in the scheme has been individually issued with a form for the purposes of requesting the transfer of leave to the leave account and the transfer has then had to be done manually by HR Division. To streamline the procedure, unused leave of all those taking part in the saved leave scheme at the closure of of the leave-year accounts will henceforth be transferred automatically to the saved leave account on that date. This simplification is in the ...

Paid Family Leave, Fathers' Leave-Taking, and Leave-Sharing in Dual-Earner Households.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartel, Anne P; Rossin-Slater, Maya; Ruhm, Christopher J; Stearns, Jenna; Waldfogel, Jane

Using difference-in-difference and difference-in-difference-in-difference designs, we study California's Paid Family Leave (CA-PFL) program, the first source of government-provided paid parental leave available to fathers in the Unites States. Relative to the pre-treatment mean, fathers of infants in California are 46 percent more likely to be on leave when CA-PFL is available. In households where both parents work, we find suggestive evidence that CA-PFL increases both father-only leave-taking (i.e., father on leave while mother is at work) and joint leave-taking (i.e., both parents on leave at the same time). Effects are larger for fathers of first-born children than for fathers of later-born children.

Automated Leaf Tracking using Multi-view Image Sequences of Maize Plants for Leaf-growth Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Das Choudhury, S.; Awada, T.; Samal, A.; Stoerger, V.; Bashyam, S.

2017-12-01

Extraction of phenotypes with botanical importance by analyzing plant image sequences has the desirable advantages of non-destructive temporal phenotypic measurements of a large number of plants with little or no manual intervention in a relatively short period of time. The health of a plant is best interpreted by the emergence timing and temporal growth of individual leaves. For automated leaf growth monitoring, it is essential to track each leaf throughout the life cycle of the plant. Plants are constantly changing organisms with increasing complexity in architecture due to variations in self-occlusions and phyllotaxy, i.e., arrangements of leaves around the stem. The leaf cross-overs pose challenges to accurately track each leaf using single view image sequence. Thus, we introduce a novel automated leaf tracking algorithm using a graph theoretic approach by multi-view image sequence analysis based on the determination of leaf-tips and leaf-junctions in the 3D space. The basis of the leaf tracking algorithm is: the leaves emerge using bottom-up approach in the case of a maize plant, and the direction of leaf emergence strictly alternates in terms of direction. The algorithm involves labeling of the individual parts of a plant, i.e., leaves and stem, following graphical representation of the plant skeleton, i.e., one-pixel wide connected line obtained from the binary image. The length of the leaf is measured by the number of pixels in the leaf skeleton. To evaluate the performance of the algorithm, a benchmark dataset is indispensable. Thus, we publicly release University of Nebraska-Lincoln Component Plant Phenotyping dataset-2 (UNL-CPPD-2) consisting of images of the 20 maize plants captured by visible light camera of the Lemnatec Scanalyzer 3D high throughout plant phenotyping facility once daily for 60 days from 10 different views. The dataset is aimed to facilitate the development and evaluation of leaf tracking algorithms and their uniform comparisons.

Dried, ground banana plant leaves (Musa spp.) for the control of Haemonchus contortus and Trichostrongylus colubriformis infections in sheep.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, L; Yoshihara, E; Ribeiro, B L M; Silva, L K F; Marques, E C; Meira, E B S; Rossi, R S; Sampaio, P H; Louvandini, H; Hasegawa, M Y

2015-12-01

To evaluate the anthelmintic effect of Musa spp. leaves, 12 animals were artificially infected with Haemonchus contortus, and another 12 animals were infected with Trichostrongylus colubriformis. Then, both treatment groups were offered 400 g of dried ground banana plant leaves, and the control animals were offered only 1000 g of coast cross hay. During the trials, the animals received weekly physical examinations. The methods used to evaluate the efficiency of this treatment were packed cell volume, total plasma protein and faecal egg counts, and egg hatchability tests were performed on days -2, +3, +6, +9, +13 and +15. Coproculture tests were performed on day -2 to confirm monospecific infections. In the FEC and EHT, a statistically significant difference (0.04, 0.005; p  0.05) for Haemochus contortus group in all tests. Our results confirmed previous findings suggesting that dried ground banana plant leaves possess anthelmintic activity.

Paid Family Leave, Fathers' Leave-Taking, and Leave-Sharing in Dual-Earner Households

OpenAIRE

Bartel, Ann P.; Rossin-Slater, Maya; Ruhm, Christopher J.; Stearns, Jenna; Waldfogel, Jane

2015-01-01

This paper provides quasi-experimental evidence on the impact of paid leave legislation on fathers' leave-taking, as well as on the division of leave between mothers and fathers in dual-earner households. Using difference-in-difference and difference-in-difference-in-difference designs, we study California's Paid Family Leave (CA-PFL) program, which is the first source of government-provided paid parental leave available to fathers in the United States. Our results show that fathers in Califo...

Whose track is it anyway?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flora, Janne; Andersen, Astrid Oberborbeck

2017-01-01

tracked their hunting routes, registered animals caught and observed, and photographed and videoed important places, events, and other phenomena they found interesting and relevant to register. This essay describes the conception and implementation of Piniariarneq, and uses this experience as a lens...

Free Radicals Scavenging Capacity, Antidiabetic and Antihypertensive Activities of Flavonoid-Rich Fractions from Leaves of Trichilia emetica and Opilia amentacea in an Animal Model of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kiessoun Konaté

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Trichilia emetica and Opilia amentacea traditional Burkinabe medicinal plants were investigated to determine their therapeutic potential to inhibit key enzymes in carbohydrate metabolism, which has relevance to the management of type 2 diabetes. In vitro and in vivo antioxidant and antihypertensive potential and antilipidemia and antihyperglycemia activities in an animal model of type 2 diabetes mellitus have been studied. The antioxidant activity of the flavonoids from leaves of Trichilia emetica and Opilia amentacea has been evaluated using β-carotene-linoleic acid system, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibitory activity, chelation of iron (II ions, and lipid peroxidation which showed more pronounced antioxidant capacities of Trichilia emetica. Total cholesterol concentrations decreased in an animal model of type 2 diabetes mellitus under effects of flavonoid-rich fractions from leaves of Trichilia emetica and Opilia amentacea has been observed. Extract of flavonoid-rich fractions from Trichilia emetica shown maximum radical scavenging activity and possessed marked antiamylase activity which may be due to the presence of certain secondary metabolites. Suggested better antihyperglycemia, antilipidemia, and antihypertensive properties of flavonoid-rich fractions from Trichilia emetica compared to the extract of Opilia amentacea are demonstrating antidiabetic potential of Trichilia emetica as therapeutic targets for the management of type 2 diabetes.

Taking Leave?

CERN Multimedia

2000-01-01

Planning a holiday? Then if you're a member of the personnel, you'll need to use the Laboratory's new leave system that will be put in place on 1 October. Leave allocations don't change - you are entitled to just as much holiday as before - but instead of being credited annually, your leave will be credited on a monthly basis, and this information will be communicated on your salary slip. The reason for the change is that with the various new leave schemes such as Recruitment by Saved Leave (RSL) and the Progressive Retirement Programme (PRP), a streamlined procedure was required for dealing with all kinds of leave. In the new system, each member of the personnel will have leave accounts to which leave will be credited monthly from the payroll and debited each time an absence is registered in the CERN Electronic Document Handling system (EDH). Leave balances will appear on monthly pay slips, and full details of leave transactions and balances will be available through EDH at all times. As the leave will be c...

Effects of ethanol extract of Bersama engleriana leaves on oxidative ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Pesticides are used to improve agricultural yields; meanwhile they have detrimental effects on human and animal reproduction. This study aimed at evaluating the protective effects of ethanol extract of Bersama engleriana leaves against cypermethrin-induced oxidative stress and reproductive toxicity. Fifty male guinea.

Preclinical validation of antinociceptive, antiinflammatory, and antipyretic activities of Cordia martinicensis leave decoction

OpenAIRE

Martínez Hormaza, Ioanna; Victoria Amador, María del Carmen; Brito Álvarez, Gisselle; Morón Rodríguez, Francisco; López Barreiro, Marisol; García Hernández, Ana Ibis; Duménigo González, Abel; Morejón Rodríguez, Zulema; Bacallao Elguea, Yunier; Nossin, Emmanuel

2014-01-01

Introduction: leave decoction of Cordia martinicensis (Jacq.) Roem. & Schult. is commonly used in Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia to relieve thoracic pain and fever. Objectives: to validate the antiinflammatory, antinociceptive (analgesic), and antipyretic ethnobotanical uses of Cordia martinicensis in experimental animal models. Methods: 30 % aqueous extract of Cordia martinicensis dry leaves was prepared just before use. Analgesic activity was assayed by writhing and tail flick, and anti...

5 CFR 630.1204 - Intermittent leave or reduced leave schedule.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... insurance, health benefits, retirement coverage, and leave accrual). (e) The agency shall determine the... REGULATIONS ABSENCE AND LEAVE Family and Medical Leave § 630.1204 Intermittent leave or reduced leave schedule... reduced leave schedule unless the employee and the agency agree to do so. (b) Leave under § 630.1203(a) (3...

Dazzle camouflage, target tracking, and the confusion effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, Benedict G; Cuthill, Innes C; Scott-Samuel, Nicholas E

2016-01-01

The influence of coloration on the ecology and evolution of moving animals in groups is poorly understood. Animals in groups benefit from the "confusion effect," where predator attack success is reduced with increasing group size or density. This is thought to be due to a sensory bottleneck: an increase in the difficulty of tracking one object among many. Motion dazzle camouflage has been hypothesized to disrupt accurate perception of the trajectory or speed of an object or animal. The current study investigates the suggestion that dazzle camouflage may enhance the confusion effect. Utilizing a computer game style experiment with human predators, we found that when moving in groups, targets with stripes parallel to the targets' direction of motion interact with the confusion effect to a greater degree, and are harder to track, than those with more conventional background matching patterns. The findings represent empirical evidence that some high-contrast patterns may benefit animals in groups. The results also highlight the possibility that orientation and turning may be more relevant in the mechanisms of dazzle camouflage than previously recognized.

Sound at the zoo: Using animal monitoring, sound measurement, and noise reduction in zoo animal management.

Science.gov (United States)

Orban, David A; Soltis, Joseph; Perkins, Lori; Mellen, Jill D

2017-05-01

A clear need for evidence-based animal management in zoos and aquariums has been expressed by industry leaders. Here, we show how individual animal welfare monitoring can be combined with measurement of environmental conditions to inform science-based animal management decisions. Over the last several years, Disney's Animal Kingdom® has been undergoing significant construction and exhibit renovation, warranting institution-wide animal welfare monitoring. Animal care and science staff developed a model that tracked animal keepers' daily assessments of an animal's physical health, behavior, and responses to husbandry activity; these data were matched to different external stimuli and environmental conditions, including sound levels. A case study of a female giant anteater and her environment is presented to illustrate how this process worked. Associated with this case, several sound-reducing barriers were tested for efficacy in mitigating sound. Integrating daily animal welfare assessment with environmental monitoring can lead to a better understanding of animals and their sensory environment and positively impact animal welfare. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Proton tracking in a high-granularity Digital Tracking Calorimeter for proton CT purposes

Science.gov (United States)

Pettersen, H. E. S.; Alme, J.; Biegun, A.; van den Brink, A.; Chaar, M.; Fehlker, D.; Meric, I.; Odland, O. H.; Peitzmann, T.; Rocco, E.; Ullaland, K.; Wang, H.; Yang, S.; Zhang, C.; Röhrich, D.

2017-07-01

Radiation therapy with protons as of today utilizes information from x-ray CT in order to estimate the proton stopping power of the traversed tissue in a patient. The conversion from x-ray attenuation to proton stopping power in tissue introduces range uncertainties of the order of 2-3% of the range, uncertainties that are contributing to an increase of the necessary planning margins added to the target volume in a patient. Imaging methods and modalities, such as Dual Energy CT and proton CT, have come into consideration in the pursuit of obtaining an as good as possible estimate of the proton stopping power. In this study, a Digital Tracking Calorimeter is benchmarked for proof-of-concept for proton CT purposes. The Digital Tracking Calorimeter was originally designed for the reconstruction of high-energy electromagnetic showers for the ALICE-FoCal project. The presented prototype forms the basis for a proton CT system using a single technology for tracking and calorimetry. This advantage simplifies the setup and reduces the cost of a proton CT system assembly, and it is a unique feature of the Digital Tracking Calorimeter concept. Data from the AGORFIRM beamline at KVI-CART in Groningen in the Netherlands and Monte Carlo simulation results are used to in order to develop a tracking algorithm for the estimation of the residual ranges of a high number of concurrent proton tracks. High energy protons traversing the detector leave a track through the sensor layers. These tracks are spread out through charge diffusion processes. A charge diffusion model is applied for acquisition of estimates of the deposited energy of the protons in each sensor layer by using the size of the charge diffused area. A model fit of the Bragg Curve is applied to each reconstructed track and through this, estimating the residual range of each proton. The range of the individual protons can at present be estimated with a resolution of 4%. The readout system for this prototype is able to

Proton tracking in a high-granularity Digital Tracking Calorimeter for proton CT purposes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pettersen, H.E.S., E-mail: helge.pettersen@helse-bergen.no [Department of Oncology and Medical Physics, Haukeland University Hospital, Postbox 1400, 5021 Bergen (Norway); Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Alme, J. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Biegun, A. [Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut, University of Groningen, NL-9747 AA Groningen (Netherlands); Brink, A. van den [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Chaar, M.; Fehlker, D. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Meric, I. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Bergen University College, Postbox 7030, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Odland, O.H. [Department of Oncology and Medical Physics, Haukeland University Hospital, Postbox 1400, 5021 Bergen (Norway); Peitzmann, T.; Rocco, E. [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Ullaland, K. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Wang, H. [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Yang, S. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Zhang, C. [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Röhrich, D. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway)

2017-07-11

Radiation therapy with protons as of today utilizes information from x-ray CT in order to estimate the proton stopping power of the traversed tissue in a patient. The conversion from x-ray attenuation to proton stopping power in tissue introduces range uncertainties of the order of 2–3% of the range, uncertainties that are contributing to an increase of the necessary planning margins added to the target volume in a patient. Imaging methods and modalities, such as Dual Energy CT and proton CT, have come into consideration in the pursuit of obtaining an as good as possible estimate of the proton stopping power. In this study, a Digital Tracking Calorimeter is benchmarked for proof-of-concept for proton CT purposes. The Digital Tracking Calorimeter was originally designed for the reconstruction of high-energy electromagnetic showers for the ALICE-FoCal project. The presented prototype forms the basis for a proton CT system using a single technology for tracking and calorimetry. This advantage simplifies the setup and reduces the cost of a proton CT system assembly, and it is a unique feature of the Digital Tracking Calorimeter concept. Data from the AGORFIRM beamline at KVI-CART in Groningen in the Netherlands and Monte Carlo simulation results are used to in order to develop a tracking algorithm for the estimation of the residual ranges of a high number of concurrent proton tracks. High energy protons traversing the detector leave a track through the sensor layers. These tracks are spread out through charge diffusion processes. A charge diffusion model is applied for acquisition of estimates of the deposited energy of the protons in each sensor layer by using the size of the charge diffused area. A model fit of the Bragg Curve is applied to each reconstructed track and through this, estimating the residual range of each proton. The range of the individual protons can at present be estimated with a resolution of 4%. The readout system for this prototype is able to

Markerless 3D Face Tracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walder, Christian; Breidt, Martin; Bulthoff, Heinrich

2009-01-01

We present a novel algorithm for the markerless tracking of deforming surfaces such as faces. We acquire a sequence of 3D scans along with color images at 40Hz. The data is then represented by implicit surface and color functions, using a novel partition-of-unity type method of efficiently...... the scanned surface, using the variation of both shape and color as features in a dynamic energy minimization problem. Our prototype system yields high-quality animated 3D models in correspondence, at a rate of approximately twenty seconds per timestep. Tracking results for faces and other objects...

A study of etching model of alpha-recoil tracks in biotite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dong Jinquan; Yuan Wanming; Wang Shicheng; Fan Qicheng

2005-01-01

Like fission-track dating, alpha-recoil track (ART) dating is based on the accumulation of nuclear particles that the released from natural radioactivity and produce etchable tracks in solids. ARTs are formed during the alpha-decay of uranium and thorium as well as of their daughter nuclei. When emitting an alpha-particle, the heavy remaining nucleus recoils 30-40 nm, leaving behind a trail of radiation damage. Through etching the ART tracks become visible with the aid of an interference phase-contrast microscope. Under the presupposition that all tracks are preserved since the formation of a sample their total number is a measure of the sample's age. The research for etching model is to accurately determine ART volume density, i.e., the number of ARTs per unit volume. The volume density of many dots in many layers may be determined on a sample using this etching model, and as decreasing the error and increasing the accuracy. (authors)

Selection signature in domesticated animals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Zhang-yuan; He, Xiao-yun; Wang, Xiang-yu; Guo, Xiao-fei; Cao, Xiao-han; Hu, Wen-ping; Di, Ran; Liu, Qiu-yue; Chu, Ming-xing

2016-12-20

Domesticated animals play an important role in the life of humanity. All these domesticated animals undergo same process, first domesticated from wild animals, then after long time natural and artificial selection, formed various breeds that adapted to the local environment and human needs. In this process, domestication, natural and artificial selection will leave the selection signal in the genome. The research on these selection signals can find functional genes directly, is one of the most important strategies in screening functional genes. The current studies of selection signal have been performed in pigs, chickens, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs and other domestic animals, and found a great deal of functional genes. This paper provided an overview of the types and the detected methods of selection signal, and outlined researches of selection signal in domestic animals, and discussed the key issues in selection signal analysis and its prospects.

Oxalate Content of Taro Leaves Grown in Central Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Du Thanh, Hang; Phan Vu, Hai; Vu Van, Hai; Le Duc, Ngoan; Le Minh, Tuan; Savage, Geoffrey

2017-01-01

Leaves were harvested from four different cultivars of Colocasia esculenta and three cultivars of Alocasia odora that were growing on nine different farms in central Vietnam. The total, soluble and insoluble oxalate contents of the leaves were extracted and measured using HPLC chromatography. Total calcium determinations were also carried out on the same samples. The total oxalate content of the leaves ranged from 433.8 to 856.1 mg/100 g wet matter (WM) while the soluble oxalate ranged from 147.8 to 339.7 mg/100 g WM. The proportion of soluble oxalate ranged from 28% to 41% (overall mean 35%) of the total oxalate content of the leaves. The equivalent insoluble oxalate proportion ranged from 59% to 72% of the total (overall mean 65%). There was little difference between the Colocasia esculenta and Alocasia odora taro cultivars, although the total oxalate content was significantly higher in Alocasia odora cultivars. The overall mean total calcium content was 279.5 mg/100 WM and the percentage of insoluble calcium bound as calcium oxalate ranged from 31.7% to 57.3% of the total calcium content (overall mean 47.1%). The oxalate content in taro leaves is a major factor to consider when different cultivars of taro are recommended for human or animal consumption. PMID:28231080

Design of laboratory and animal housing unit for radionuclide studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1975-01-01

The design of a combined analytical laboratory and animal housing facility is discussed. By having sample processing facilities in close proximity to the experimental animals, the necessity for transporting biological specimens long distances has been curtailed. In addition, complete radionuclide counting equipment has been installed so that samples need not leave the animal housing site for analysis, a feature based on radiological health requirements. (U.S.)

Persistent Aerial Tracking system for UAVs

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias; Sharma, Gopal; Smith, Neil; Ghanem, Bernard

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by ‘handing over the camera’ from one UAV to another. We evaluate several state-of-the-art trackers on the VIVID aerial video dataset and additional sequences that are specifically tailored to low altitude UAV target tracking. Based on the evaluation, we select the leading tracker and improve upon it by optimizing for both speed and performance, integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Persistent Aerial Tracking system for UAVs

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-12-19

In this paper, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by ‘handing over the camera’ from one UAV to another. We evaluate several state-of-the-art trackers on the VIVID aerial video dataset and additional sequences that are specifically tailored to low altitude UAV target tracking. Based on the evaluation, we select the leading tracker and improve upon it by optimizing for both speed and performance, integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

REMINDER Saved Leave Scheme (SLS) : Simplified procedure for the transfer of leave to saved leave accounts

CERN Multimedia

HR Division

2001-01-01

As part of the process of streamlining procedures, the HR and AS Divisions have jointly developed a system whereby annual and compensatory leave will henceforth be automatically transferred1) to saved leave accounts. Under the provisions of the voluntary saved leave scheme (SLS), a maximum total of 10 days'2)Previously, every person taking part in the scheme has been individually issued with a form for the purposes of requesting the transfer of leave to the leave account and the transfer has then had to be done manually by HR Division. To streamline the procedure, unused leave of all those taking part in the saved leave scheme at the closure of the leave-year accounts will henceforth be transferred automatically to the saved leave account on that date. This simplification is in the interest of all parties concerned. This automatic transfer procedure has a number of advantages for participants in the SLS scheme. First, staff members will no longer have to take any administrative steps. Secondly, the new proced...

Parental leave: the impact of recent legislation on parents' leave taking.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Wen-Jui; Waldfogel, Jane

2003-02-01

We use data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine the impact of leave entitlements on unpaid leave usage by men and women after the birth of a child from 1991 to 1999. The results indicate that legislation providing the right to unpaid leave has not affected men's leave usage. The results for women are mixed: in some specifications, leave entitlements are associated with increased leave taking or longer leaves, but the results depend on how we define leave coverage. Our results point to the limited impact of unpaid leave policies and the potential importance of paid-leave policies.

Physical and chemical composition and in situ degradability of macauba palm cake and leaves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanda Patrícia Barros Ferreira

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Macauba palm coconuts are rich in essential nutrients for animal feed formulation and after oil extraction, a large amount of residual biomass is produced, which must be used rationally to environmental preservation. This study aimed to determine the nutritional value of macauba palm (Acrocomia aculeata, cake and leaves, for its physical and chemical composition, dry matter (DM in vitro digestibility (IVD and in situ degradability. The test of in situ degradability was done using three rumen fistulated cattle. Analytical determinations were performed in the laboratory of Animal Nutrition of Instituto de Zootecnia, Nova Odessa-SP, Brazil. Six replicates were used for each analytical determination and were calculated the standard error. Macauba cake chemically assessed showed a low protein content (CP 4.5% and high content of acid detergent fibre (ADF 39.7% and average levels of neutral detergent fibre (NDF 52.5%. ADF and NDF were the macauba palm cake majority fractions compared NDF and ADF (respectively of cocoa cake (37.6 and 45.5%, sunflower cake (28.2 and 38.4%, corn meal (11.3 and 20.2% and peanut cake (15.4 and 21.0. Macauba palm leaves had a good protein content (12.0% and fiber content comparable to tropical grass of good nutritional value. They can be used with no restriction on ruminants’ diets. The macauba palm cake high levels of lignin (16.5% justify the low dry matter IVD percentage (48%, while the leaves had 58%.of IVD. Macauba leaves total digestible nutrients (TDN 59.0% is similar to TDN usually observed for forages. Macauba cake can be considered (TDN = 64.0% similar to energetic food, due to the fat content (6.4%, however the high content of lignin (16.5% can limit its consumption. Macauba palm cake showed high ruminal degradability of DM and CP (fraction a = 51.3 and 59.9, respectively, while macauba palm leaves hah low solubility of DM and CP (fraction a = 3.18 and 5.28, respectively. Thus, the higher CP macauba leaves

Chimeric animal models in human stem cell biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Glover, Joel C; Boulland, Jean-Luc; Halasi, Gabor; Kasumacic, Nedim

2009-01-01

The clinical use of stem cells for regenerative medicine is critically dependent on preclinical studies in animal models. In this review we examine some of the key issues and challenges in the use of animal models to study human stem cell biology-experimental standardization, body size, immunological barriers, cell survival factors, fusion of host and donor cells, and in vivo imaging and tracking. We focus particular attention on the various imaging modalities that can be used to track cells in living animals, comparing their strengths and weaknesses and describing technical developments that are likely to lead to new opportunities for the dynamic assessment of stem cell behavior in vivo. We then provide an overview of some of the most commonly used animal models, their advantages and disadvantages, and examples of their use for xenotypic transplantation of human stem cells, with separate reviews of models involving rodents, ungulates, nonhuman primates, and the chicken embryo. As the use of human somatic, embryonic, and induced pluripotent stem cells increases, so too will the range of applications for these animal models. It is likely that increasingly sophisticated uses of human/animal chimeric models will be developed through advances in genetic manipulation, cell delivery, and in vivo imaging.

Automated interactive video playback for studies of animal communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Butkowski, Trisha; Yan, Wei; Gray, Aaron M; Cui, Rongfeng; Verzijden, Machteld N; Rosenthal, Gil G

2011-02-09

Video playback is a widely-used technique for the controlled manipulation and presentation of visual signals in animal communication. In particular, parameter-based computer animation offers the opportunity to independently manipulate any number of behavioral, morphological, or spectral characteristics in the context of realistic, moving images of animals on screen. A major limitation of conventional playback, however, is that the visual stimulus lacks the ability to interact with the live animal. Borrowing from video-game technology, we have created an automated, interactive system for video playback that controls animations in response to real-time signals from a video tracking system. We demonstrated this method by conducting mate-choice trials on female swordtail fish, Xiphophorus birchmanni. Females were given a simultaneous choice between a courting male conspecific and a courting male heterospecific (X. malinche) on opposite sides of an aquarium. The virtual male stimulus was programmed to track the horizontal position of the female, as courting males do in the wild. Mate-choice trials on wild-caught X. birchmanni females were used to validate the prototype's ability to effectively generate a realistic visual stimulus.

Evaluation of anti-urolithiatic effect of aqueous extract of Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam. leaves using ethylene glycol-induced renal calculi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Apexa Bhanuprasad Shukla

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: To investigate the anti-urolithiatic effect of aqueous extract of leaves of Bryophyllum pinnatum (B. pinnatum on ethylene glycol-induced renal calculi. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six Wistar male rats were randomly divided into six equal groups. group A animals received distilled water for 28 days. Group B to group F animals received 1% v/v ethylene glycol in distilled water for 28 days and group B served as ethylene glycol control. Groups C and D (preventive groups received aqueous extract of leaves of B. pinnatum 50 and 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally, respectively for 28 days. Groups E and F (treatment groups received aqueous extract of leaves of B. pinnatum 50 and 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally, respectively from 15th to 28th day. On days 0 and 28, 24 hrs urine samples were collected for urinary volume and urinary oxalate measurement. On day 28, blood was collected for serum creatinine and blood urea level monitoring. All animals were sacrificed and kidneys were removed, weighed, and histopathologically evaluated for calcium oxalate crystals deposition. Results: Administration of aqueous extract of leaves of B. pinnatum reduced urine oxalate level significantly, as compared with Group B (p

A tracked robot with novel bio-inspired passive "legs".

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Bo; Jing, Xingjian

2017-01-01

For track-based robots, an important aspect is the suppression design, which determines the trafficability and comfort of the whole system. The trafficability limits the robot's working capability, and the riding comfort limits the robot's working effectiveness, especially with some sensitive instruments mounted on or operated. To these aims, a track-based robot equipped with a novel passive bio-inspired suspension is designed and studied systematically in this paper. Animal or insects have very special leg or limb structures which are good for motion control and adaptable to different environments. Inspired by this, a new track-based robot is designed with novel "legs" for connecting the loading wheels to the robot body. Each leg is designed with passive structures and can achieve very high loading capacity but low dynamic stiffness such that the robot can move on rough ground similar to a multi-leg animal or insect. Therefore, the trafficability and riding comfort can be significantly improved without losing loading capacity. The new track-based robot can be well applied to various engineering tasks for providing a stable moving platform of high mobility, better trafficability and excellent loading capacity.

Multiple Drosophila Tracking System with Heading Direction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pudith Sirigrivatanawong

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Machine vision systems have been widely used for image analysis, especially that which is beyond human ability. In biology, studies of behavior help scientists to understand the relationship between sensory stimuli and animal responses. This typically requires the analysis and quantification of animal locomotion. In our work, we focus on the analysis of the locomotion of the fruit fly D r o s o p h i l a m e l a n o g a s t e r , a widely used model organism in biological research. Our system consists of two components: fly detection and tracking. Our system provides the ability to extract a group of flies as the objects of concern and furthermore determines the heading direction of each fly. As each fly moves, the system states are refined with a Kalman filter to obtain the optimal estimation. For the tracking step, combining information such as position and heading direction with assignment algorithms gives a successful tracking result. The use of heading direction increases the system efficiency when dealing with identity loss and flies swapping situations. The system can also operate with a variety of videos with different light intensities.

Acute Toxicity of Justicia gendarussa Burm. Leaves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juheini Amin

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Acute Toxicity of Justicia gendarussa Burm. Leaves. Preminelary experiment showed that ethanolic extract ofgandarusa leaves (Justicia gendarussa Burm. could decreased uric acid blood level on rats. The aim of this experimentwas to determine of the value LD50 and liver function based on activities of aminotransferase. Animals test which wereused in this experiment were 50 males and 50 females white mice. They were divided into 5 groups. Group 1 as controlgroup was given aquadest. Group 2-5 were treated by ethanolic extract of gandarusa leaves with dosage 4, 8, 16, and 32g/kg bw. The LD50 value was determined by the amount of death in group during 24 hours after giving a single dose oftest substance. The result showed that the highest dose was practically non toxic with LD50 value of 31.99 g/kg bw(male groups and 27.85 g/kg bw (female groups. Measurement of aminotransferase activity was done by usingcolorimetric method. The result of ANOVA analysis for liver function showed that the giving test substance 4 g/kg bw–16 g/kg bw was not significantly different between treated groups and control group.

29 CFR 825.202 - Intermittent leave or reduced leave schedule.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... leave schedule is a leave schedule that reduces an employee's usual number of working hours per workweek, or hours per workday. A reduced leave schedule is a change in the employee's schedule for a period of... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Intermittent leave or reduced leave schedule. 825.202...

Oxalate Content of Taro Leaves Grown in Central Vietnam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hang Du Thanh

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Leaves were harvested from four different cultivars of Colocasia esculenta and three cultivars of Alocasia odora that were growing on nine different farms in central Vietnam. The total, soluble and insoluble oxalate contents of the leaves were extracted and measured using HPLC chromatography. Total calcium determinations were also carried out on the same samples. The total oxalate content of the leaves ranged from 433.8 to 856.1 mg/100 g wet matter (WM while the soluble oxalate ranged from 147.8 to 339.7 mg/100 g WM. The proportion of soluble oxalate ranged from 28% to 41% (overall mean 35% of the total oxalate content of the leaves. The equivalent insoluble oxalate proportion ranged from 59% to 72% of the total (overall mean 65%. There was little difference between the Colocasia esculenta and Alocasia odora taro cultivars, although the total oxalate content was significantly higher in Alocasia odora cultivars. The overall mean total calcium content was 279.5 mg/100 WM and the percentage of insoluble calcium bound as calcium oxalate ranged from 31.7% to 57.3% of the total calcium content (overall mean 47.1%. The oxalate content in taro leaves is a major factor to consider when different cultivars of taro are recommended for human or animal consumption.

Buffer nitrogen solubility, in vitro ruminal partitioning of nitrogen and in vitro ruminal biological activity of tannins in leaves of four fodder tree species.

Science.gov (United States)

Cudjoe, N; Mlambo, V

2014-08-01

This study explores the chemical composition, buffer N solubility, in vitro ruminal N degradability and in vitro ruminal biological activity of tannins in leaves from Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala, Morus alba and Trichanthera gigantea trees. These tree leaves are a potential protein source for ruminants, but their site-influenced nutritive value is largely unknown. Leucaena leucocephala leaves had the highest N content (42.1 g/kg DM), while T. gigantea leaves had the least (26.1 g/kg DM). Leucaena leucocephala had the highest buffer solubility index (20%), while 10% of the total N in leaves of the other three species was soluble. The rapidly fermentable N fraction 'a' was highest in M. alba leaves (734.9 g/kg DM) and least in T. gigantea leaves (139.5 g/kg DM). The rate of fermentation (c) was highest for M. alba (7%/hours) leaves. No significant correlations were recorded between buffer solubility index of N and in vitro ruminal N degradability parameters: a, b, and c. The highest response to tannin inactivation using polyethylene glycol, in terms of percentage increase in 36-hours cumulative gas production, was recorded in M. alba (39%) and T. gigantea (38%) leaves. It was concluded that buffer solubility of N is not a good indicator of ruminal N degradation in the leaves of these tree species. Leaves of M. alba could be more valuable as a source of rapidly fermentable N when animals are offered low-protein, high-fibre diets compared with other tree species evaluated in the current study. However, when feeding M. alba leaves, the role of tannins must be considered because these secondary plant compounds showed significant in vitro ruminal biological activity. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Research on Phosphatases of Belladona Leaves and Their Purification (Part 1

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Khorsand

1956-12-01

Full Text Available Belladona leaves as well as all other studied leaves contains two distinct phosphatase fractions belonging respectively to types II and IIIi the major parts of these enzymes is extraetible by water. It was not possible to extract the non soluble fraction which is solidly retained by the cellular constituents. Phosphatase II does not differ from other phosphatnses of the same type. Whereas phosphatase III is distinetely different from enzymes of the same type of vegetal or animal origins. It is activated by bivalent metallic ions which are specific activators of the alkaline phcspbatnses: Mg-Zn-Ni and Co.

Rats track odour trails accurately using a multi-layered strategy with near-optimal sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Adil Ghani; Sarangi, Manaswini; Bhalla, Upinder Singh

2012-02-28

Tracking odour trails is a crucial behaviour for many animals, often leading to food, mates or away from danger. It is an excellent example of active sampling, where the animal itself controls how to sense the environment. Here we show that rats can track odour trails accurately with near-optimal sampling. We trained rats to follow odour trails drawn on paper spooled through a treadmill. By recording local field potentials (LFPs) from the olfactory bulb, and sniffing rates, we find that sniffing but not LFPs differ between tracking and non-tracking conditions. Rats can track odours within ~1 cm, and this accuracy is degraded when one nostril is closed. Moreover, they show path prediction on encountering a fork, wide 'casting' sweeps on encountering a gap and detection of reappearance of the trail in 1-2 sniffs. We suggest that rats use a multi-layered strategy, and achieve efficient sampling and high accuracy in this complex task.

Negative leave balances

CERN Multimedia

Human Resources Department

2005-01-01

Members of the personnel entitled to annual leave and, where appropriate, saved leave and/or compensatory leave are requested to take note of the new arrangements described below, which were recommended by the Standing Concertation Committee (SCC) at its meeting on 1Â September 2005 and subsequently approved by the Director-General. The changes do not apply to members of the personnel participating in the Progressive Retirement Programme (PRP) or the Part-time Work as a pre-retirement measure, for whom the specific provisions communicated at the time of joining will continue to apply. Â Negative balances in annual leave, saved leave and/or compensatory leave accounts at the end of the leave year (30th September) and on the date on which bonuses are credited to the saved leave account (31st December): Where members of the personnel have a leave account with a negative balance on 30Â September and/or 31Â December, leave will automatically be transferred from one account to another on the relevant dates i...

Negative leave balances

CERN Multimedia

Human Resources Department

2005-01-01

Members of the personnel entitled to annual leave and, where appropriate, saved leave and/or compensatory leave are requested to take note of the new arrangements described below, which were recommended by the Standing Concertation Committee (SCC) at its meeting on 1 September 2005 and subsequently approved by the Director-General. The changes do not apply to members of the personnel participating in the Progressive Retirement Programme (PRP) or the Part-time Work as a pre-retirement measure, for whom the specific provisions communicated at the time of joining will continue to apply.  Negative balances in annual leave, saved leave and/or compensatory leave accounts at the end of the leave year (30th September) and on the date on which bonuses are credited to the saved leave account (31st December): Where members of the personnel have a leave account with a negative balance on 30 September and/or 31 December, leave will automatically be transferred from one account to another on the relevant dates in or...

Age Maturity of Female Japanese Quails Fed Diets Containing Katuk Leave Meal (Sauropus androgynus L.Merr.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R Wiradimadja

2007-05-01

Full Text Available This experiment was conducted to study the effects of katuk leave meal on sexual maturity in Japanese quail. Three hundred female Japanese quails, with 4 weeks age, were assigned into a completely randomized design with 4 treatments i.e., R1 (diet with neither katuk leave meal nor cholesterin, R2 (diet without katuk leave meal + 0.10% cholesterin, R3 (diet with 15% katuk leave meal without cholesterin, and R4 (diet with 15% katuk leave meal + 0.10% cholesterin. The parameters measured were estradiol hormone in plasma, and age maturity (five percent henday production. Estradiol hormone was measured with Radioimmunoassay. The data were collected and analyzed by using completely randomized design. The results showed that the addition of 15% katuk leave meal in the diet significantly decreased the estrogen concentration (P<0.05, so that slow down on the age maturity of female Japanese quail. (Animal Production 9(2: 67-72 (2007Key Words : Katuk leave meal, estradiol hormone, age maturity, quail

Development of a two photon microscope for tracking Drosophila larvae

Science.gov (United States)

Karagyozov, Doycho; Mihovilovic Skanata, Mirna; Gershow, Marc

Current in vivo methods for measuring neural activity in Drosophila larva require immobilization of the animal. Although we can record neural signals while stimulating the sensory organs, we cannot read the behavioral output because we have prevented the animal from moving. Many research questions cannot be answered without observation of neural activity in behaving (freely-moving) animals. We incorporated a Tunable Acoustic Gradient (TAG) lens into a two-photon microscope to achieve a 70kHz axial scan rate, enabling volumetric imaging at tens of hertz. We then implemented a tracking algorithm based on a Kalman filter to maintain the neurons of interest in the field of view and in focus during the rapid three dimensional motion of a free larva. Preliminary results show successful tracking of a neuron moving at speeds reaching 500 μm/s. NIH Grant 1DP2EB022359 and NSF Grant PHY-1455015.

Three-dimensional tracking of small aquatic organisms using fluorescent nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekvall, Mikael T; Bianco, Giuseppe; Linse, Sara; Linke, Heiner; Bäckman, Johan; Hansson, Lars-Anders

2013-01-01

Tracking techniques are vital for the understanding of the biology and ecology of organisms. While such techniques have provided important information on the movement and migration of large animals, such as mammals and birds, scientific advances in understanding the individual behaviour and interactions of small (mm-scale) organisms have been hampered by constraints, such as the sizes of existing tracking devices, in existing tracking methods. By combining biology, chemistry and physics we here present a method that allows three-dimensional (3D) tracking of individual mm-sized aquatic organisms. The method is based on in-vivo labelling of the organisms with fluorescent nanoparticles, so-called quantum dots, and tracking of the organisms in 3D via the quantum-dot fluorescence using a synchronized multiple camera system. It allows for the efficient and simultaneous study of the behaviour of one as well as multiple individuals in large volumes of observation, thus enabling the study of behavioural interactions at the community scale. The method is non-perturbing - we demonstrate that the labelling is not affecting the behavioural response of the organisms - and is applicable over a wide range of taxa, including cladocerans as well as insects, suggesting that our methodological concept opens up for new research fields on individual behaviour of small animals. Hence, this offers opportunities to focus on important biological, ecological and behavioural questions never before possible to address.

Regulated Electric Drainage and its Interference with Track Circuits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaclav Kolar

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Electric drainage is a power electronic device used to protect underground metal devices (such as piping from the corrosive effects of stray currents. Stray currents are usually caused by DC electric traction, such as trams or railways. In places where stray currents leave the underground device and return into rails, they cause significant electrochemical corrosion of buried devices. The principle of electric drainage is based on electrical connection between the underground device and electric traction rails, which ensures that current flows through this connection, instead of flowing into the ground. Nowadays, the most widely used type is regulated electric drainage, where current is regulated by means of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM. Because of this modulation, current flowing through the drainage contains harmonic components with different frequencies. In modern railways, track circuits are often used as an important part of the track security system. For safe operation, it is necessary to ensure that frequencies generated by the drainage do not interfere with track circuits. This paper describes the design of a regulated drainage control system, with regard to its compatibility with track circuits and this paper contains related computer simulations and discussion of the results

Bioactive Components in Moringa Oleifera Leaves Protect against Chronic Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Vergara-Jimenez, Marcela; Almatrafi, Manal Mused

2017-01-01

Moringa Oleifera (MO), a plant from the family Moringacea is a major crop in Asia and Africa. MO has been studied for its health properties, attributed to the numerous bioactive components, including vitamins, phenolic acids, flavonoids, isothiocyanates, tannins and saponins, which are present in significant amounts in various components of the plant. Moringa Oleifera leaves are the most widely studied and they have shown to be beneficial in several chronic conditions, including hypercholesterolemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, insulin resistance, non-alcoholic liver disease, cancer and overall inflammation. In this review, we present information on the beneficial results that have been reported on the prevention and alleviation of these chronic conditions in various animal models and in cell studies. The existing limited information on human studies and Moringa Oleifera leaves is also presented. Overall, it has been well documented that Moringa Oleifera leaves are a good strategic for various conditions associated with heart disease, diabetes, cancer and fatty liver. PMID:29144438

Bioactive Components in Moringa Oleifera Leaves Protect against Chronic Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcela Vergara-Jimenez

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Moringa Oleifera (MO, a plant from the family Moringacea is a major crop in Asia and Africa. MO has been studied for its health properties, attributed to the numerous bioactive components, including vitamins, phenolic acids, flavonoids, isothiocyanates, tannins and saponins, which are present in significant amounts in various components of the plant. Moringa Oleifera leaves are the most widely studied and they have shown to be beneficial in several chronic conditions, including hypercholesterolemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, insulin resistance, non-alcoholic liver disease, cancer and overall inflammation. In this review, we present information on the beneficial results that have been reported on the prevention and alleviation of these chronic conditions in various animal models and in cell studies. The existing limited information on human studies and Moringa Oleifera leaves is also presented. Overall, it has been well documented that Moringa Oleifera leaves are a good strategic for various conditions associated with heart disease, diabetes, cancer and fatty liver.

Bioactive Components in Moringa Oleifera Leaves Protect against Chronic Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Vergara-Jimenez, Marcela; Almatrafi, Manal Mused; Fernandez, Maria Luz

2017-11-16

Moringa Oleifera ( MO ), a plant from the family Moringacea is a major crop in Asia and Africa. MO has been studied for its health properties, attributed to the numerous bioactive components, including vitamins, phenolic acids, flavonoids, isothiocyanates, tannins and saponins, which are present in significant amounts in various components of the plant. Moringa Oleifera leaves are the most widely studied and they have shown to be beneficial in several chronic conditions, including hypercholesterolemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, insulin resistance, non-alcoholic liver disease, cancer and overall inflammation. In this review, we present information on the beneficial results that have been reported on the prevention and alleviation of these chronic conditions in various animal models and in cell studies. The existing limited information on human studies and Moringa Oleifera leaves is also presented. Overall, it has been well documented that Moringa Oleifera leaves are a good strategic for various conditions associated with heart disease, diabetes, cancer and fatty liver.

Tracking single cells in live animals using a photoconvertible near-infrared cell membrane label.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Alicia L; Fujisaki, Joji; Wu, Juwell; Runnels, Judith M; Turcotte, Raphaël; Spencer, Joel A; Celso, Cristina Lo; Scadden, David T; Strom, Terry B; Lin, Charles P

2013-01-01

We describe a novel photoconversion technique to track individual cells in vivo using a commercial lipophilic membrane dye, DiR. We show that DiR exhibits a permanent fluorescence emission shift (photoconversion) after light exposure and does not reacquire the original color over time. Ratiometric imaging can be used to distinguish photoconverted from non-converted cells with high sensitivity. Combining the use of this photoconvertible dye with intravital microscopy, we tracked the division of individual hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells within the calvarium bone marrow of live mice. We also studied the peripheral differentiation of individual T cells by tracking the gain or loss of FoxP3-GFP expression, a marker of the immune suppressive function of CD4(+) T cells. With the near-infrared photoconvertible membrane dye, the entire visible spectral range is available for simultaneous use with other fluorescent proteins to monitor gene expression or to trace cell lineage commitment in vivo with high spatial and temporal resolution.

A dynamic Brownian bridge movement model to estimate utilization distributions for heterogeneous animal movement.

Science.gov (United States)

Kranstauber, Bart; Kays, Roland; Lapoint, Scott D; Wikelski, Martin; Safi, Kamran

2012-07-01

1. The recently developed Brownian bridge movement model (BBMM) has advantages over traditional methods because it quantifies the utilization distribution of an animal based on its movement path rather than individual points and accounts for temporal autocorrelation and high data volumes. However, the BBMM assumes unrealistic homogeneous movement behaviour across all data. 2. Accurate quantification of the utilization distribution is important for identifying the way animals use the landscape. 3. We improve the BBMM by allowing for changes in behaviour, using likelihood statistics to determine change points along the animal's movement path. 4. This novel extension, outperforms the current BBMM as indicated by simulations and examples of a territorial mammal and a migratory bird. The unique ability of our model to work with tracks that are not sampled regularly is especially important for GPS tags that have frequent failed fixes or dynamic sampling schedules. Moreover, our model extension provides a useful one-dimensional measure of behavioural change along animal tracks. 5. This new method provides a more accurate utilization distribution that better describes the space use of realistic, behaviourally heterogeneous tracks. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2012 British Ecological Society.

Altered defaecatory behaviour and faecal incontinence in a video-tracked animal model of pudendal neuropathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Devane, L A; Lucking, E; Evers, J; Buffini, M; Scott, S M; Knowles, C H; O'Connell, P R; Jones, J F X

2017-05-01

The aim was to develop a behavioural animal model of faecal continence and assess the effect of retro-uterine balloon inflation (RBI) injury. RBI in the rat causes pudendal neuropathy, a risk factor for obstetric related faecal incontinence in humans. Video-tracking of healthy rats (n = 12) in a cage containing a latrine box was used to monitor their defaecatory behaviour index (DBI) over 2 weeks. The DBI (range 0-1) was devised by dividing the defaecation rate (pellets per hour) outside the latrine by that of the whole cage. A score of 0 indicates all pellets were deposited in the latrine. Subsequently, the effects of RBI (n = 19), sham surgery (n = 4) and colostomy (n = 2) were determined by monitoring the DBI for 2 weeks preoperatively and 3 weeks postoperatively. The DBI for healthy rats was 0.1 ± 0.03 with no significant change over 2 weeks (P = 0.71). In the RBI group, 13 of 19 rats (68%) showed no significant change in DBI postoperatively (0.08 ±  -0.05 vs 0.11 ±  -0.07) while in six rats the DBI increased from 0.16 ±  -0.09 to 0.46 ± 0.23. The negative control, sham surgery, did not significantly affect the DBI (0.09 ± 0.06 vs 0.08 ± 0.04, P = 0.14). The positive control, colostomy, increased the DBI from 0.26 ± 0.03 to 0.86 ± 0.08. This is the first study showing a quantifiable change in defaecatory behaviour following injury in an animal model. This model of pudendal neuropathy affects continence in 32% of rats and provides a basis for research on interventions for incontinence. Colorectal Disease © 2017 The Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.

A Tracking Analyst for large 3D spatiotemporal data from multiple sources (case study: Tracking volcanic eruptions in the atmosphere)

Science.gov (United States)

Gad, Mohamed A.; Elshehaly, Mai H.; Gračanin, Denis; Elmongui, Hicham G.

2018-02-01

This research presents a novel Trajectory-based Tracking Analyst (TTA) that can track and link spatiotemporally variable data from multiple sources. The proposed technique uses trajectory information to determine the positions of time-enabled and spatially variable scatter data at any given time through a combination of along trajectory adjustment and spatial interpolation. The TTA is applied in this research to track large spatiotemporal data of volcanic eruptions (acquired using multi-sensors) in the unsteady flow field of the atmosphere. The TTA enables tracking injections into the atmospheric flow field, the reconstruction of the spatiotemporally variable data at any desired time, and the spatiotemporal join of attribute data from multiple sources. In addition, we were able to create a smooth animation of the volcanic ash plume at interactive rates. The initial results indicate that the TTA can be applied to a wide range of multiple-source data.

Tracking drinking behaviour from age 15-19 years

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Anette; Due, Pernille; Holstein, Bjørn E

2003-01-01

beverages at age 15 increased the risk of drinking alcohol weekly at the age of 19 [odds ratio (OR)-values from 1.11 to 3.53]. Drunkenness among the 15-year-old boys and the use of spirits of the 15-year-old girls showed the strongest predictive relationship with excessive consumption at age 19 [OR = 2...... phenomenon. It was a behaviour that tracked into young adulthood, leaving the adolescents at increased risk of being long-term, large-scale consumers....

Robust cell tracking in epithelial tissues through identification of maximum common subgraphs.

Science.gov (United States)

Kursawe, Jochen; Bardenet, Rémi; Zartman, Jeremiah J; Baker, Ruth E; Fletcher, Alexander G

2016-11-01

Tracking of cells in live-imaging microscopy videos of epithelial sheets is a powerful tool for investigating fundamental processes in embryonic development. Characterizing cell growth, proliferation, intercalation and apoptosis in epithelia helps us to understand how morphogenetic processes such as tissue invagination and extension are locally regulated and controlled. Accurate cell tracking requires correctly resolving cells entering or leaving the field of view between frames, cell neighbour exchanges, cell removals and cell divisions. However, current tracking methods for epithelial sheets are not robust to large morphogenetic deformations and require significant manual interventions. Here, we present a novel algorithm for epithelial cell tracking, exploiting the graph-theoretic concept of a 'maximum common subgraph' to track cells between frames of a video. Our algorithm does not require the adjustment of tissue-specific parameters, and scales in sub-quadratic time with tissue size. It does not rely on precise positional information, permitting large cell movements between frames and enabling tracking in datasets acquired at low temporal resolution due to experimental constraints such as phototoxicity. To demonstrate the method, we perform tracking on the Drosophila embryonic epidermis and compare cell-cell rearrangements to previous studies in other tissues. Our implementation is open source and generally applicable to epithelial tissues. © 2016 The Authors.

Anti-obesity and hypoglycemic effect of ethanolic extract of Murraya koenigii (L leaves in high fatty diet rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sachin V. Tembhurne

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the hypoglycemic and anti-obesity activities of of Murraya koenigii leaves. Method: The study was performed in high fatty diet induced obesity rats. After 15 days baseline period the treatments animals were received ethanolic extract of Murraya koenigii leaves (300 and 500 mg/kg in high fatty diet rats. All the treatments were given for one month. On 30th day all the fasted animals received an intraperitoneal injection of glucose (1 g/kg for glucose tolerance test. At the end of study body weight, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood glucose level were measured. Results: The results demonstrate clearly that repeated oral administration of Murraya koenigii leaves evoked a potent anti-hyperglycaemic activity in high fat diet obese rats. Postprandial hyperglycaemic peaks were significantly lower in plant-treated experimental groups. In other hand, high fatty diet group increased the both total cholesterol and triglycerides levels as compared to control group. While administration of Murraya koenigii leaves significantly decreased in both cholesterol as well as triglycerides. Conclusions: We can conclude that Murraya koenigii leaves evokes potent anti-hyperglycaemic and anti-obesity effects. This fact could support their use by the diabetes patient for controlling body weight as well as maintains the glycemic level.

EXPENDITURE TRACKING OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION IN THE SOFTWARE "1C: ACCOUNTING 8.2"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadejda SUVOROVA

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The article studies the issues related to automation of tracking production expenses and production cost of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine by using specialized software (computer program.

75 FR 39203 - Notice of Availability of a Pest Risk Analysis for Importation of Wall Rocket Leaves from the...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-08

... Kingdom into the Continental United States AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [Docket No. APHIS-2010-0027... respect to perennial wall rocket leaves grown in the United Kingdom. The analysis evaluates the risks...

75 FR 71415 - Notice of Decision To Issue Permits for the Importation of Wall Rocket Leaves From the United...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-23

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [Docket No. APHIS-2010-0027] Notice of Decision To Issue Permits for the Importation of Wall Rocket Leaves From the United Kingdom Into the Continental United States AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION...

The Relationship of Animal Abuse to Violence and Other Forms of Antisocial Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Arluke, Arnold; Levin, Jack; Luke, Carter; Ascione, Frank

1999-01-01

Criminal records of 153 animal abusers and 153 control participants were tracked and compared. Animal abusers were more likely to commit property offenses, drug offenses, and public disorder offenses. Thus, results show an association between animal abuse and a variety of antisocial behavior, but not violence alone. Implications of these findings…

Adherence of curli producing Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli to baby spinach leaves

Science.gov (United States)

Cellular appendages, such as curli fibers have been suggested to be involved in STEC persistence in fresh produce as these curli are critical in biofilm formation and adherence to animal cells. We determined the role of curli in attachment of STEC on spinach leaves. The curli expression by wild-ty...

Evaluation of radio protective activity of Averrhoa carambola leaves extract in Wistar rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kavitha, K.R.

2012-01-01

Averrhoa carambola (oxalidaceae) also known as a star fruit, is cultivated extensively in India for its edible fruits. In India the ripe fruit or the juice may be taken to counteract fever. The crushed leaves or shoots are applied externally in the treatment of chickenpox, ringworm, tinia, cold and head ache. A mixture of leaves and fruits can be used to arrest vomiting and to treat fever. The present study was designed to investigate the A.carambola leaves ethanolic extract for radio protective activity. Male wistar rats were divided into 3 groups; Control, post-radiation group and preradiation group. Ethanolic extract 500 mg/kg for 15 days. Each group contained six rats. The parameters studied are haematological studies, to study the radio protective effect before and after radiation, analysis of DNA damage in control and experimental groups, assessment of nephritic damage by histopathology. All the animals were observed for 15 days for any sign of radiation sickness, morbidity, behavioural toxicity, urination and defection pattern or mortality, which showed no changes. Observation revealed that all the above conditions were normal. This study has not shown any hazardous effects on the animals and hence might be said to have radio protective effect, which will be discussed during the presentation. (author)

Fluorine emissions of industrial origin. Effect of fluorine on plants and animals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cristiani, H

1927-05-01

Shrinkage and drooping of cress plants and grass, and lesions in dandelion leaves, caused by a 1-hr exposure to fluorine vapors in a test chamber are described. In the vicinity of an aluminum plant, where the electrolyte bath is composed of cryolite, a sodium aluminum fluoride, vegetables and the leaves of fruit trees show signs of burning and great damage can be observed on forest trees. Animals are affected by fluoride through their fodder. Guinea pigs fed plant food exposed to hydrofluoric acid gases develop fluorosis, but with very small concentrations, death may occur only after a year or more. Cows afflicted with this disease due to fodder harvested in fluorine-infested areas show initial symptoms of lameness of one or more legs, stamping by the animal, resting on one leg and then the other, inability to rise, and spontaneous sprains and bone fractures occurring in the stable. After several months, the animal gradually grows thin with a dry, hard hide and eventually dies. Experiments with corpses of animals who died of fluorosis have shown that their bones are more brittle than those of normal healthy animals.

Utilization and cost for animal logging operations

Science.gov (United States)

Suraj P. Shrestha; Bobby L. Lanford

2001-01-01

Forest harvesting with animals is a labor-intensive operation. Due to the development of efficient machines and high volume demands from the forest products industry, mechanization of logging developed very fast, leaving behind the traditional horse and mule logging. It is expensive to use machines on smaller woodlots, which require frequent moves if mechanically...

Ethanol extract of the leaves of Psidium guajava Linn enhances sperm output in healthy Wistar rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Akinola, O B; Oladosu, O S; Dosumu, O O

2007-06-01

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), among other factors, have been implicated in the aetiology of male infertility. Thus, the roles of antioxidants at improving sperm production and quality are being investigated. The present study was designed to assess the effect of the ethanol extract of fresh leaves of Psidium guajava Linn. on the sperm parameters of healthy male Wistar rats. A total of 18 rats, weighing between 108-124 g, were divided into 3 groups of 6 animals each. Animals in groups 1 and 2 were administered 250 mg/kg/d and 500 mg/kg/d of guava leaf extract (GLE) orally for 53 days respectively. Group 3 animals received normal saline. Sperm count increased from 56.2+/-0.3 (x10(6)) in the control to 57.1+/-0.2 (x10(6)) in group 1 animals, and from 56.2+/-0.3 (x10(6)) in the control to 72.3+/-0.4 (x10(6)) in group 2 animals. Similarly, dose-dependent increases in the percentages of motile spermatozoa were observed in GLE-treated animals compared to the control group. These findings suggest that the extracts of the leaves of Psidium guajava Linn. possess beneficial effects on sperm production and quality, and may thus improve the sperm parameters of infertile males with oligospermia and nonobstructive azoospermia.

Stem Cell Tracking Technologies for Neurological Regenerative Medicine Purposes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongtao Zheng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The growing field of stem cell therapy is moving toward clinical trials in a variety of applications, particularly for neurological diseases. However, this translation of cell therapies into humans has prompted a need to create innovative and breakthrough methods for stem cell tracing, to explore the migration routes and its reciprocity with microenvironment targets in the body, to monitor and track the outcome after stem cell transplantation therapy, and to track the distribution and cell viability of transplanted cells noninvasively and longitudinally. Recently, a larger number of cell tracking methods in vivo were developed and applied in animals and humans, including magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine imaging, and optical imaging. This review has been intended to summarize the current use of those imaging tools in tracking stem cells, detailing their main features and drawbacks, including image resolution, tissue penetrating depth, and biosafety aspects. Finally, we address that multimodality imaging method will be a more potential tracking tool in the future clinical application.

Three-dimensional tracking of small aquatic organisms using fluorescent nanoparticles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mikael T Ekvall

Full Text Available Tracking techniques are vital for the understanding of the biology and ecology of organisms. While such techniques have provided important information on the movement and migration of large animals, such as mammals and birds, scientific advances in understanding the individual behaviour and interactions of small (mm-scale organisms have been hampered by constraints, such as the sizes of existing tracking devices, in existing tracking methods. By combining biology, chemistry and physics we here present a method that allows three-dimensional (3D tracking of individual mm-sized aquatic organisms. The method is based on in-vivo labelling of the organisms with fluorescent nanoparticles, so-called quantum dots, and tracking of the organisms in 3D via the quantum-dot fluorescence using a synchronized multiple camera system. It allows for the efficient and simultaneous study of the behaviour of one as well as multiple individuals in large volumes of observation, thus enabling the study of behavioural interactions at the community scale. The method is non-perturbing - we demonstrate that the labelling is not affecting the behavioural response of the organisms - and is applicable over a wide range of taxa, including cladocerans as well as insects, suggesting that our methodological concept opens up for new research fields on individual behaviour of small animals. Hence, this offers opportunities to focus on important biological, ecological and behavioural questions never before possible to address.

Corn fiber hulls as a food additive or animal feed

Science.gov (United States)

Abbas, Charles; Beery, Kyle E.; Cecava, Michael J.; Doane, Perry H.

2010-12-21

The present invention provides a novel animal feed or food additive that may be made from thermochemically hydrolyzed, solvent-extracted corn fiber hulls. The animal feed or food additive may be made, for instance, by thermochemically treating corn fiber hulls to hydrolyze and solubilize the hemicellulose and starch present in the corn fiber hulls to oligosaccharides. The residue may be extracted with a solvent to separate the oil from the corn fiber, leaving a solid residue that may be prepared, for instance by aggolmerating, and sold as a food additive or an animal feed.

A new method for automatic tracking of facial landmarks in 3D motion captured images (4D).

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Anezi, T; Khambay, B; Peng, M J; O'Leary, E; Ju, X; Ayoub, A

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to validate the automatic tracking of facial landmarks in 3D image sequences. 32 subjects (16 males and 16 females) aged 18-35 years were recruited. 23 anthropometric landmarks were marked on the face of each subject with non-permanent ink using a 0.5mm pen. The subjects were asked to perform three facial animations (maximal smile, lip purse and cheek puff) from rest position. Each animation was captured by the 3D imaging system. A single operator manually digitised the landmarks on the 3D facial models and their locations were compared with those of the automatically tracked ones. To investigate the accuracy of manual digitisation, the operator re-digitised the same set of 3D images of 10 subjects (5 male and 5 female) at 1 month interval. The discrepancies in x, y and z coordinates between the 3D position of the manual digitised landmarks and that of the automatic tracked facial landmarks were within 0.17mm. The mean distance between the manually digitised and the automatically tracked landmarks using the tracking software was within 0.55 mm. The automatic tracking of facial landmarks demonstrated satisfactory accuracy which would facilitate the analysis of the dynamic motion during facial animations. Copyright © 2012 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ocean Tracking Network (OTN): Development of Oceanographic Data Integration with Animal Movement

Science.gov (United States)

Bajona, L.

2016-02-01

OTN is a $168-million ocean research and technology development platform headquartered at Dalhousie University, Canada. Using acoustic and satellite telemetry to globally document the movements and survival of aquatic animals, and their environmental correlates. The OTN Mission: to foster conservation and sustainability of valued species by generating knowledge on the movement patterns of aquatic species in their changing environment. OTN's ever-expanding global network of acoustic receivers listening for over 90 different key animal species is providing for the data needed in working in collaboration with researchers for the development of oceanographic data integration with animal movement. Presented here is Data Management's work to date, status and challenges in OTN's move towards a community standard to enable sharing between projects nationally and internationally; permitting inter-operability with other large national (e.g. CHONe, ArcticNET) and international (IOOS, IMOS) networks. This work includes co-development of Animal Acoustic Telemetry (AAT) metadata standard and implementation using an ERDDAP data server (NOAA, Environmental Research Division's Data Access Program) facilitating ingestion for modelers (eg. netcdf).

A new method for discovering behavior patterns among animal movements

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y.; Luo, Ze; Takekawa, John Y.; Prosser, Diann J.; Xiong, Y.; Newman, S.; Xiao, X.; Batbayar, N.; Spragens, Kyle A.; Balachandran, S.; Yan, B.

2016-01-01

Advanced satellite tracking technologies enable biologists to track animal movements at fine spatial and temporal scales. The resultant data present opportunities and challenges for understanding animal behavioral mechanisms. In this paper, we develop a new method to elucidate animal movement patterns from tracking data. Here, we propose the notion of continuous behavior patterns as a concise representation of popular migration routes and underlying sequential behaviors during migration. Each stage in the pattern is characterized in terms of space (i.e., the places traversed during movements) and time (i.e. the time spent in those places); that is, the behavioral state corresponding to a stage is inferred according to the spatiotemporal and sequential context. Hence, the pattern may be interpreted predictably. We develop a candidate generation and refinement framework to derive all continuous behavior patterns from raw trajectories. In the framework, we first define the representative spots to denote the underlying potential behavioral states that are extracted from individual trajectories according to the similarity of relaxed continuous locations in certain distinct time intervals. We determine the common behaviors of multiple individuals according to the spatiotemporal proximity of representative spots and apply a projection-based extension approach to generate candidate sequential behavior sequences as candidate patterns. Finally, the candidate generation procedure is combined with a refinement procedure to derive continuous behavior patterns. We apply an ordered processing strategy to accelerate candidate refinement. The proposed patterns and discovery framework are evaluated through conceptual experiments on both real GPS-tracking and large synthetic datasets.

A critique of wildlife radio-tracking and its use in National Parks: a report to the National Park Service

Science.gov (United States)

Mech, L. David; Barber, Shannon M.

2002-01-01

Because of the naturalness of National Parks and because of the public’s strong interest in the parks, the National Park Service (NPS) must gather as much information as needed to help understand and preserve the natural functioning of its ecosystems, and especially of its wildlife. The most useful technique for studying wildlife is radio-tracking, or wildlife telemetry. Radio-tracking is the technique of determining information about an animal through the use of radio signals from or to a device carried by the animal.The basic components of a traditional radio-tracking system are (1) a transmitting subsystem consisting of a radio transmitter, a power source and a propagating antenna, and (2) a receiving subsystem including a “pick-up” antenna, a signal receiver with reception indicator (speaker and/or display) and a power source. Most radio tracking systems involve transmitters tuned to different frequencies (analogous to different AM/FM radio stations) that allow individual identification.Three distinct types of radio-tracking are in use today: (1)conventional, very-high-frequency (VHF) radio tracking, (2) satellite tracking, and (3) Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking. VHF radio-tracking is the standard technique that has been in use since 1963.However, radio-tracking can be considered intrusive in that it requires live-capturing animals and attaching a collar or other device to them. A person must then monitor signals from the device, thus usually requiring people in the field in vehicles, aircraft, and on foot. Nevertheless, most national parks have recognized the benefits of radio-tracking and have hosted radio-tracking studies for many years; in some parks, hundreds of animals have been, or are being, so studied.As a result, some NPS staff are concerned about actual or potential intrusiveness of radio-tracking. Ideally, wildlife studies would still be done but with no intrusion on animals or conflict with park visitors.Thus the NPS has decided to

Vision-based method for tracking meat cuts in slaughterhouses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Anders Boesen Lindbo; Hviid, Marchen Sonja; Engbo Jørgensen, Mikkel

2014-01-01

Meat traceability is important for linking process and quality parameters from the individual meat cuts back to the production data from the farmer that produced the animal. Current tracking systems rely on physical tagging, which is too intrusive for individual meat cuts in a slaughterhouse envi...... (hanging, rough treatment and incorrect trimming) and our method is able to handle these perturbations gracefully. This study shows that the suggested vision-based approach to tracking is a promising alternative to the more intrusive methods currently available....

REMINDER: Saved Leave Scheme (SLS)

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Transfer of leave to saved leave accounts Under the provisions of the voluntary saved leave scheme (SLS), a maximum total of 10 days'* annual and compensatory leave (excluding saved leave accumulated in accordance with the provisions of Administrative Circular No 22B) can be transferred to the saved leave account at the end of the leave year (30 September). We remind you that unused leave of all those taking part in the saved leave scheme at the closure of the leave year accounts is transferred automatically to the saved leave account on that date. Therefore, staff members have no administrative steps to take. In addition, the transfer, which eliminates the risk of omitting to request leave transfers and rules out calculation errors in transfer requests, will be clearly shown in the list of leave transactions that can be consulted in EDH from October 2003 onwards. Furthermore, this automatic leave transfer optimizes staff members' chances of benefiting from a saved leave bonus provided that they ar...

Envisioning the future of aquatic animal tracking: Technology, science, and application

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lennox, Robert J.; Aarestrup, Kim; Cooke, Steven J.

2017-01-01

Electronic tags are significantly improving our understanding of aquatic animal behavior and are emerging as key sources of information for conservation and management practices. Future aquatic integrative biology and ecology studies will increasingly rely on data from electronic tagging. Continued...... of animals and the environment through which they are moving. Improved data collection will be accompanied by greater data accessibility and analytical tools for processing data, enabled by new infrastructure and cyberinfrastructure. To operationalize advances and facilitate integration into policy......, there must be parallel developments in the accessibility of education and training, as well as solutions to key governance and legal issues...

CNS activity of leaves extract of Calotropis gigantea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santosh Dattatraya Ghule

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: To study central nervous system activity of ethanolic extract of leaves of Calotropis gigantea (C. gigantea (Asclepiadaceae, such as anticonvulsant, sedative and muscle relaxation activity. Methods: The ethanolic extract of C. gigantea administered orally in experimental animals at different doses 100, 200 and 500 mg/kg body weight. The anticonvulsant properties were studied on maximal electroshock test and strychnine-induced convulsions model. Sedative property studied using actophotometer and skeletal muscle relaxant property studied using rota rod. Results: This extract protected rats against maximal electroshock induced seizures, but had no or a moderate effect only against strychnine-induced seizures. Locomotor activity in mice found to be decreased and motor coordination was also decreased. The acute toxicity study revealed safely of the extract up to a dose of 2 000 mg/kg. Conclusions: With these effects, the leaves of C. gigantea possess anticonvulsant sedative and muscle relaxant effect that might explain its use as a traditional medicine.

Multisensory integration for odor tracking by flying Drosophila: Behavior, circuits and speculation.

Science.gov (United States)

Duistermars, Brian J; Frye, Mark A

2010-01-01

Many see fruit flies as an annoyance, invading our homes with a nagging persistence and efficiency. Yet from a scientific perspective, these tiny animals are a wonder of multisensory integration, capable of tracking fragmented odor plumes amidst turbulent winds and constantly varying visual conditions. The peripheral olfactory, mechanosensory, and visual systems of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, have been studied in great detail;1-4 however, the mechanisms by which fly brains integrate information from multiple sensory modalities to facilitate robust odor tracking remain elusive. Our studies on olfactory orientation by flying flies reveal that these animals do not simply follow their "nose"; rather, fruit flies require mechanosensory and visual input to track odors in flight.5,6 Collectively, these results shed light on the neural circuits involved in odor localization by fruit flies in the wild and illuminate the elegant complexity underlying a behavior to which the annoyed and amazed are familiar.

Classification of Animal Movement Behavior through Residence in Space and Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Leigh G; Orben, Rachael A; Tolkova, Irina; Thompson, David R

2017-01-01

Identification and classification of behavior states in animal movement data can be complex, temporally biased, time-intensive, scale-dependent, and unstandardized across studies and taxa. Large movement datasets are increasingly common and there is a need for efficient methods of data exploration that adjust to the individual variability of each track. We present the Residence in Space and Time (RST) method to classify behavior patterns in movement data based on the concept that behavior states can be partitioned by the amount of space and time occupied in an area of constant scale. Using normalized values of Residence Time and Residence Distance within a constant search radius, RST is able to differentiate behavior patterns that are time-intensive (e.g., rest), time & distance-intensive (e.g., area restricted search), and transit (short time and distance). We use grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) GPS tracks to demonstrate RST's ability to classify behavior patterns and adjust to the inherent scale and individuality of each track. Next, we evaluate RST's ability to discriminate between behavior states relative to other classical movement metrics. We then temporally sub-sample albatross track data to illustrate RST's response to less resolved data. Finally, we evaluate RST's performance using datasets from four taxa with diverse ecology, functional scales, ecosystems, and data-types. We conclude that RST is a robust, rapid, and flexible method for detailed exploratory analysis and meta-analyses of behavioral states in animal movement data based on its ability to integrate distance and time measurements into one descriptive metric of behavior groupings. Given the increasing amount of animal movement data collected, it is timely and useful to implement a consistent metric of behavior classification to enable efficient and comparative analyses. Overall, the application of RST to objectively explore and compare behavior patterns in movement data can

Unsteady flow challenges tracking performance at vortex shedding frequencies without disrupting lift mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Matthews, Megan; Sponberg, Simon

2017-11-01

Birds, insects, and many animals use unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms to achieve stable hovering flight. Natural environments are often characterized by unsteady flows causing animals to dynamically respond to perturbations while performing complex tasks, such as foraging. Little is known about how unsteady flow around an animal interacts with already unsteady flow in the environment or how this impacts performance. We study how the environment impacts maneuverability to reveal any coupling between body dynamics and aerodynamics for hawkmoths, Manduca sexta,tracking a 3D-printed robotic flower in a wind tunnel. We also observe the leading-edge vortex (LEV), a known lift-generating mechanism for insect flight with smoke visualization. Moths in still and unsteady air exhibit near perfect tracking at low frequencies, but tracking in the flower wake results in larger overshoot at mid-range. Smoke visualization of the flower wake shows that the dominant vortex shedding corresponds to the same frequency band as the increased overshoot. Despite the large effect on flight dynamics, the LEV remains bound to the wing and thorax throughout the wingstroke. In general, unsteady wind seems to decrease maneuverability, but LEV stability seems decoupled from changes in flight dynamics.

Leaving home in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Rikke Skovgaard

2015-01-01

The paper focuses on ethnic differences in the timing and patterns of leaving the parental home. Leaving home is a key transition in the life course of the individual, and extensive research has been conducted on the timing and patterns of leaving it. However, ethnic differences in these patterns...... of leaving home. Results showed that while some differences disappeared when controlling for covariates, others persisted, thus indicating ethnic differences in home-leaving patterns. A strong link between leaving home and marriage was substantiated for Turks, but not for Somalis. The home-leaving patterns...... of Somalis were much more similar to those of Danes. Overall, Turkish descendants were similar to Turkish immigrants but with some differentiation. The analyses identified the existence of ethnic differences in home-leaving patterns but also found evidence of a shift towards less traditional patterns, i...

Hurricane Rita Track Radar Image with Topographic Overlay

Science.gov (United States)

2005-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Animation About the animation: This simulated view of the potential effects of storm surge flooding on Galveston and portions of south Houston was generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Although it is protected by a 17-foot sea wall against storm surges, flooding due to storm surges caused by major hurricanes remains a concern. The animation shows regions that, if unprotected, would be inundated with water. The animation depicts flooding in one-meter increments. About the image: The Gulf Coast from the Mississippi Delta through the Texas coast is shown in this satellite image from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) overlain with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), and the predicted storm track for Hurricane Rita. The prediction from the National Weather Service was published Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. Central Time, and shows the expected track center in black with the lighter shaded area indicating the range of potential tracks the storm could take. Low-lying terrain along the coast has been highlighted using the SRTM elevation data, with areas within 15 feet of sea level shown in red, and within 30 feet in yellow. These areas are more at risk for flooding and the destructive effects of storm surge and high waves. Data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Geospatial

Parental Leave in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rostgaard, Tine; Christoffersen, Mogens; Weise, Hanne

This artcle considders the political aims for different leave schemes and reviews studies af these schemes. The use of parental leave is sensitive to the financial loss involved in taking leave: a decrease in the benefit payments has had a significant influence on take-up, while, in general, fami......, families'' loss of income is less if leave is taken up by the mothers. Only few fathers participate in parental leave....

Acute and subchronic toxicity studies of methanol extract of Polygonum minus leaves in Sprague Dawley rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Christapher, Parayil Varghese; Parasuraman, Subramani; Asmawi, Mohd Zaini; Murugaiyah, Vikneswaran

2017-06-01

Medicinal plant preparations may contain high levels of toxic chemical constituents to potentially cause serious harm to animals and/or humans. Thus, toxicity studies are important to assess the toxic effects of plant derived products. Polygonum minus is used traditionally for different ailments in Southeast Asia. This study was conducted to establish the acute and subchronic toxicity profile of the methanol extract of P. minus leaves. The acute toxicity study showed that the methanol extract of P. minus is safe even at the highest dose tested of 2000 mg/kg in female Sprague Dawley rats. There were no behavioural or physiological changes and gross pathological abnormalities observed. The subchronic toxicity study of methanol extract of P. minus at 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg were conducted in both sexes of Sprague Dawley rats. There were no changes observed in the extract treated animal's body weight, food and water intake, motor coordination, behaviour and mental alertness. The values of haematological and biochemical parameters were not different between the treated and control animals. The relative organ weights of extract-treated animals did not differ with that of control animals. Based on the present findings, the methanol extract of P. minus leaves could be considered safe up to the dose of 2000 mg/kg. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The attribution of incentive salience to Pavlovian alcohol cues: a shift from goal-tracking to sign-tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Srey, Chandra S; Maddux, Jean-Marie N; Chaudhri, Nadia

2015-01-01

Environmental stimuli that are reliably paired with alcohol may acquire incentive salience, a property that can operate in the use and abuse of alcohol. Here we investigated the incentive salience of Pavlovian alcohol cues using a preclinical animal model. Male, Long-Evans rats (Harlan) with unrestricted access to food and water were acclimated to drinking 15% ethanol (v/v) in their home-cages. Rats then received Pavlovian autoshaping training in which the 10 s presentation of a retractable lever served as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and 15% ethanol served as the unconditioned stimulus (US) (0.2 ml/CS; 12 CS presentations/session; 27 sessions). Next, in an operant test of conditioned reinforcement, nose pokes into an active aperture delivered presentations of the lever-CS, whereas nose pokes into an inactive aperture had no consequences. Across initial autoshaping sessions, goal-tracking behavior, as measured by entries into the fluid port where ethanol was delivered, developed rapidly. However, with extended training goal-tracking diminished, and sign-tracking responses, as measured by lever-CS activations, emerged. Control rats that received explicitly unpaired CS and US presentations did not show goal-tracking or sign-tracking responses. In the test for conditioned reinforcement, rats with CS-US pairings during autoshaping training made more active relative to inactive nose pokes, whereas rats in the unpaired control group did not. Moreover, active nose pokes were positively correlated with sign-tracking behavior during autoshaping. Extended training may produce a shift in the learned properties of Pavlovian alcohol cues, such that after initially predicting alcohol availability they acquire robust incentive salience.

Stat-tracks and mediotypes: powerful tools for modern ichnology based on 3D models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matteo Belvedere

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Vertebrate tracks are subject to a wide distribution of morphological types. A single trackmaker may be associated with a range of tracks reflecting individual pedal anatomy and behavioural kinematics mediated through substrate properties which may vary both in space and time. Accordingly, the same trackmaker can leave substantially different morphotypes something which must be considered in creating ichnotaxa. In modern practice this is often captured by the collection of a series of 3D track models. We introduce two concepts to help integrate these 3D models into ichnological analysis procedures. The mediotype is based on the idea of using statistically-generated three-dimensional track models (median or mean of the type specimens to create a composite track to support formal recognition of a ichno type. A representative track (mean and/or median is created from a set of individual reference tracks or from multiple examples from one or more trackways. In contrast, stat-tracks refer to other digitally generated tracks which may explore variance. For example, they are useful in: understanding the preservation variability of a given track sample; identifying characteristics or unusual track features; or simply as a quantitative comparison tool. Both concepts assist in making ichnotaxonomical interpretations and we argue that they should become part of the standard procedure when instituting new ichnotaxa. As three-dimensional models start to become a standard in publications on vertebrate ichnology, the mediotype and stat-track concepts have the potential to help guiding a revolution in the study of vertebrate ichnology and ichnotaxonomy.

Fast regional readout CMOS Image Sensor for dynamic MLC tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Zin, H.; Harris, E.; Osmond, J.; Evans, P.

2014-03-01

Advanced radiotherapy techniques such as volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) require verification of the complex beam delivery including tracking of multileaf collimators (MLC) and monitoring the dose rate. This work explores the feasibility of a prototype Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor Image Sensor (CIS) for tracking these complex treatments by utilising fast, region of interest (ROI) read out functionality. An automatic edge tracking algorithm was used to locate the MLC leaves edges moving at various speeds (from a moving triangle field shape) and imaged with various sensor frame rates. The CIS demonstrates successful edge detection of the dynamic MLC motion within accuracy of 1.0 mm. This demonstrates the feasibility of the sensor to verify treatment delivery involving dynamic MLC up to ~400 frames per second (equivalent to the linac pulse rate), which is superior to any current techniques such as using electronic portal imaging devices (EPID). CIS provides the basis to an essential real-time verification tool, useful in accessing accurate delivery of complex high energy radiation to the tumour and ultimately to achieve better cure rates for cancer patients.

Fast regional readout CMOS image sensor for dynamic MLC tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zin, H; Harris, E; Osmond, J; Evans, P

2014-01-01

Advanced radiotherapy techniques such as volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) require verification of the complex beam delivery including tracking of multileaf collimators (MLC) and monitoring the dose rate. This work explores the feasibility of a prototype Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor Image Sensor (CIS) for tracking these complex treatments by utilising fast, region of interest (ROI) read out functionality. An automatic edge tracking algorithm was used to locate the MLC leaves edges moving at various speeds (from a moving triangle field shape) and imaged with various sensor frame rates. The CIS demonstrates successful edge detection of the dynamic MLC motion within accuracy of 1.0 mm. This demonstrates the feasibility of the sensor to verify treatment delivery involving dynamic MLC up to ∼400 frames per second (equivalent to the linac pulse rate), which is superior to any current techniques such as using electronic portal imaging devices (EPID). CIS provides the basis to an essential real-time verification tool, useful in accessing accurate delivery of complex high energy radiation to the tumour and ultimately to achieve better cure rates for cancer patients.

5 CFR 630.1015 - Movement between voluntary leave bank and leave transfer programs.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Movement between voluntary leave bank and leave transfer programs. 630.1015 Section 630.1015 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS ABSENCE AND LEAVE Voluntary Leave Bank Program § 630.1015 Movement...

Uranium trace analysis of a chewable betel-leaf preparation and tea-leaves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chakarvarti, S.K.; Nagpaul, K.K.

1981-01-01

Common ingredients of a chewable betel-leaf preparation and commercially available tea leaves were investigated for the presence of uranium traces using the fission track technique. Most of the results ranging from 0.012 to 0.046 ppm uranium correspond to α-activity in the range of 0.008-0.031 pCi/g. The single higher result for lime (used in the betel-leaf preparation) of 0.53 ppm, indicates an α-activity of 0.35 pCi/g. This range of uranium concentrations is similar to that found for other biological materials, foods and tobacco. Although it is lower than concentrations of some other α-emitters, e.g. 226 Ra and 232 Th in cereal grains and nuts, the notably high U concentration (50-100 times that of cigarette tobacco) and the high concentration of other trace elements in betel leaves may be potentially hazardous when used frequently in large amounts. (author)

Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of High-Resolution Animal Networks: What Can We Learn from Domestic Animals?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shi Chen

Full Text Available Animal social network is the key to understand many ecological and epidemiological processes. We used real-time location system (RTLS to accurately track cattle position, analyze their proximity networks, and tested the hypothesis of temporal stationarity and spatial homogeneity in these networks during different daily time periods and in different areas of the pen. The network structure was analyzed using global network characteristics (network density, subgroup clustering (modularity, triadic property (transitivity, and dyadic interactions (correlation coefficient from a quadratic assignment procedure at hourly level. We demonstrated substantial spatial-temporal heterogeneity in these networks and potential link between indirect animal-environment contact and direct animal-animal contact. But such heterogeneity diminished if data were collected at lower spatial (aggregated at entire pen level or temporal (aggregated at daily level resolution. The network structure (described by the characteristics such as density, modularity, transitivity, etc. also changed substantially at different time and locations. There were certain time (feeding and location (hay that the proximity network structures were more consistent based on the dyadic interaction analysis. These results reveal new insights for animal network structure and spatial-temporal dynamics, provide more accurate descriptions of animal social networks, and allow more accurate modeling of multiple (both direct and indirect disease transmission pathways.

Push-off forces in elite short-track speed skating.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Kruk, Eline; Reijne, Marco M; de Laat, Bjorn; Veeger, DirkJan H E J

2018-05-30

This study performed an analysis of the push-off forces of elite-short-track speed skaters using a new designed instrumented short-track speed skate with the aim to improve short-track skating performance. Four different skating strokes were distinguished for short-track speed skaters at speed. The strokes differed in stroke time, force level in both normal and lateral directions, and the centre of pressure (COP) on the blade. Within the homogeneous group of male elite speed skaters (N = 6), diversity of execution of the force patterns in the four phases of skating was evident, while skating at the same velocities. The male participants (N = 6) with a better personal record (PR) kept the COP more to the rear of their blades while hanging into the curve (r = 0.82, p < 0.05), leaving the curve (r = 0.86, p < 0.05), and entering the straight (r = 0.76, p < 0.10). Furthermore, the male skaters with a better PR showed a trend of a lower lateral peak force while entering the curve (r = 0.74, p < 0.10). Females showed a trend towards applying higher body weight normalised lateral forces than the males, while skating at imposed lower velocities.

A new laboratory radio frequency identification (RFID) system for behavioural tracking of marine organisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguzzi, Jacopo; Sbragaglia, Valerio; Sarriá, David; García, José Antonio; Costa, Corrado; del Río, Joaquín; Mànuel, Antoni; Menesatti, Paolo; Sardà, Francesc

2011-01-01

Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices are currently used to quantify several traits of animal behaviour with potential applications for the study of marine organisms. To date, behavioural studies with marine organisms are rare because of the technical difficulty of propagating radio waves within the saltwater medium. We present a novel RFID tracking system to study the burrowing behaviour of a valuable fishery resource, the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.). The system consists of a network of six controllers, each handling a group of seven antennas. That network was placed below a microcosm tank that recreated important features typical of Nephrops' grounds, such as the presence of multiple burrows. The animals carried a passive transponder attached to their telson, operating at 13.56 MHz. The tracking system was implemented to concurrently report the behaviour of up to three individuals, in terms of their travelled distances in a specified unit of time and their preferential positioning within the antenna network. To do so, the controllers worked in parallel to send the antenna data to a computer via a USB connection. The tracking accuracy of the system was evaluated by concurrently recording the animals' behaviour with automated video imaging. During the two experiments, each lasting approximately one week, two different groups of three animals each showed a variable burrow occupancy and a nocturnal displacement under a standard photoperiod regime (12 h light:12 h dark), measured using the RFID method. Similar results were obtained with the video imaging. Our implemented RFID system was therefore capable of efficiently tracking the tested organisms and has a good potential for use on a wide variety of other marine organisms of commercial, aquaculture, and ecological interest.

The use of a flexible patch leaving rule under exploitative competition: a field test with swans

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nolet, B.A.; Klaassen, R.H.G.; Mooij, W.M.

2006-01-01

Learning animals are predicted to use a flexible patch-leaving threshold (PLT) while foraging in a depletable environment under exploitative competition. This prediction was tested in flock-feeding Bewick's swans (Cygnus columbianus bewickii) depleting hidden tubers of fennel pondweed (Potamogeton

Can smartwatches replace smartphones for posture tracking?

Science.gov (United States)

Mortazavi, Bobak; Nemati, Ebrahim; VanderWall, Kristina; Flores-Rodriguez, Hector G; Cai, Jun Yu Jacinta; Lucier, Jessica; Naeim, Arash; Sarrafzadeh, Majid

2015-10-22

This paper introduces a human posture tracking platform to identify the human postures of sitting, standing or lying down, based on a smartwatch. This work develops such a system as a proof-of-concept study to investigate a smartwatch's ability to be used in future remote health monitoring systems and applications. This work validates the smartwatches' ability to track the posture of users accurately in a laboratory setting while reducing the sampling rate to potentially improve battery life, the first steps in verifying that such a system would work in future clinical settings. The algorithm developed classifies the transitions between three posture states of sitting, standing and lying down, by identifying these transition movements, as well as other movements that might be mistaken for these transitions. The system is trained and developed on a Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and the algorithm was validated through a leave-one-subject-out cross-validation of 20 subjects. The system can identify the appropriate transitions at only 10 Hz with an F-score of 0.930, indicating its ability to effectively replace smart phones, if needed.

Bayesian estimation of animal movement from archival and satellite tags.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael D Sumner

Full Text Available The reliable estimation of animal location, and its associated error is fundamental to animal ecology. There are many existing techniques for handling location error, but these are often ad hoc or are used in isolation from each other. In this study we present a Bayesian framework for determining location that uses all the data available, is flexible to all tagging techniques, and provides location estimates with built-in measures of uncertainty. Bayesian methods allow the contributions of multiple data sources to be decomposed into manageable components. We illustrate with two examples for two different location methods: satellite tracking and light level geo-location. We show that many of the problems with uncertainty involved are reduced and quantified by our approach. This approach can use any available information, such as existing knowledge of the animal's potential range, light levels or direct location estimates, auxiliary data, and movement models. The approach provides a substantial contribution to the handling uncertainty in archival tag and satellite tracking data using readily available tools.

Growth and Productivity of Response of Hybrid Rice to Application of Animal Manures, Plant Residues and Phosphorus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr. Amanullah

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of organic sources (animal manures vs. plant residues at the rate of 10 t ha-1 each on the productivity profitability of small land rice (Oryza sativa L. grower under different levels of phosphorus (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg P ha-1 fertilization. Two separate field experiments were conducted. In experiment (1, impact of three animal manures sources (cattle, sheep & poultry manures and P levels was studied along with one control plot (no animal manure and P applied as check was investigated. In experiment (2, three plant residues sources (peach leaves, garlic residues & wheat straw and P levels was studied along with one control plot (no plant residues and P applied as check. Both the experiments were carried out on small land farmer field at District Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (Northwest Pakistan during summer 2015. The results revealed that in both experiments the control plot had significantly (p≤0.05 less productivity than the average of all treated plots with organic sources and P level. The increase in P levels in both experiments (animal manure vs. plant residues had resulted in higher rice productivity (90 = 60 > 30 > 0 kg P ha-1. In the experiment under animal manures, application of poultry manure increased rice productivity as compared with sheep and cattle manures (poultry > sheep > cattle manures. In the experiment under plant residues, application of peach leaves or garlic resides had higher rice productivity over wheat straw (peach leaves = garlic residues > wheat straw. On the average, the rice grown under animal manures produced about 20% higher grain yield than the rice grown under crop residues. We concluded from this study that application of 90 kg P ha-1 along with combined application of animal manures especially poultry manure could increase rice productivity. We conclude from this study that application of 90 kg P ha-1 along with combined application of animal

A hidden Markov model for reconstructing animal paths from solar geolocation loggers using templates for light intensity.

Science.gov (United States)

Rakhimberdiev, Eldar; Winkler, David W; Bridge, Eli; Seavy, Nathaniel E; Sheldon, Daniel; Piersma, Theunis; Saveliev, Anatoly

2015-01-01

Solar archival tags (henceforth called geolocators) are tracking devices deployed on animals to reconstruct their long-distance movements on the basis of locations inferred post hoc with reference to the geographical and seasonal variations in the timing and speeds of sunrise and sunset. The increased use of geolocators has created a need for analytical tools to produce accurate and objective estimates of migration routes that are explicit in their uncertainty about the position estimates. We developed a hidden Markov chain model for the analysis of geolocator data. This model estimates tracks for animals with complex migratory behaviour by combining: (1) a shading-insensitive, template-fit physical model, (2) an uncorrelated random walk movement model that includes migratory and sedentary behavioural states, and (3) spatially explicit behavioural masks. The model is implemented in a specially developed open source R package FLightR. We used the particle filter (PF) algorithm to provide relatively fast model posterior computation. We illustrate our modelling approach with analysis of simulated data for stationary tags and of real tracks of both a tree swallow Tachycineta bicolor migrating along the east and a golden-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia atricapilla migrating along the west coast of North America. We provide a model that increases accuracy in analyses of noisy data and movements of animals with complicated migration behaviour. It provides posterior distributions for the positions of animals, their behavioural states (e.g., migrating or sedentary), and distance and direction of movement. Our approach allows biologists to estimate locations of animals with complex migratory behaviour based on raw light data. This model advances the current methods for estimating migration tracks from solar geolocation, and will benefit a fast-growing number of tracking studies with this technology.

The attribution of incentive salience to Pavlovian alcohol cues: a shift from goal-tracking to sign-tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chandra S. Srey

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Environmental stimuli that are reliably paired with alcohol may acquire incentive salience, a property that can operate in the use and abuse of alcohol. Here we investigated the incentive salience of Pavlovian alcohol cues using a preclinical animal model. Male, Long-Evans rats (Harlan with unrestricted access to food and water were acclimated to drinking 15% ethanol (v/v in their home-cages. Rats then received Pavlovian autoshaping training in which the 10 second presentation of a retractable lever served as the conditioned stimulus (CS and 15% ethanol served as the unconditioned stimulus (US (0.2 ml/CS; 12 CS presentations/session; 27 sessions. Next, in an operant test of conditioned reinforcement, nose pokes into an active aperture delivered presentations of the lever-CS, whereas nose pokes into an inactive aperture had no consequences. Across initial autoshaping sessions, goal-tracking behavior, as measured by entries into the fluid port where ethanol was delivered, developed rapidly. However, with extended training goal-tracking diminished, and sign-tracking responses, as measured by lever-CS activations, emerged. Control rats that received explicitly unpaired CS and US presentations did not show goal-tracking or sign-tracking responses. In the test for conditioned reinforcement, rats with CS-US pairings during autoshaping training made more active relative to inactive nose pokes, whereas rats in the unpaired control group did not. Moreover, active nose pokes were positively correlated with sign-tracking behavior during autoshaping. Extended training may produce a shift in the learned properties of Pavlovian alcohol cues, such that after initially predicting alcohol availability they acquire robust incentive salience.

Mining continuous activity patterns from animal trajectory data

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y.; Luo, Ze; Baoping, Yan; Takekawa, John Y.; Prosser, Diann J.; Newman, Scott H.

2014-01-01

The increasing availability of animal tracking data brings us opportunities and challenges to intuitively understand the mechanisms of animal activities. In this paper, we aim to discover animal movement patterns from animal trajectory data. In particular, we propose a notion of continuous activity pattern as the concise representation of underlying similar spatio-temporal movements, and develop an extension and refinement framework to discover the patterns. We first preprocess the trajectories into significant semantic locations with time property. Then, we apply a projection-based approach to generate candidate patterns and refine them to generate true patterns. A sequence graph structure and a simple and effective processing strategy is further developed to reduce the computational overhead. The proposed approaches are extensively validated on both real GPS datasets and large synthetic datasets.

Effect of feeding tannin-degrading bacteria Streptococcus gallolyticus strain TDGB 406 on meat quality of goats fed with Quercus semicarpifolia leaves.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Kaushalendra; Chaudhary, L C; Agarwal, Neeta; Kamra, D N

2016-10-01

The effect of feeding tannin-degrading bacteria (Streptococcus gallolyticus strain TDGB 406) on carcass characteristics of goats fed with oak (Quercus semicarpifolia) leaves was studied on 18 male goats (4 months old, average body weight 9.50 ± 1.50 kg), distributed into three groups of six animals each. The animals of group 1 served as control, while the animals of groups 2 and 3 were given (at 5 ml/kg live weight) autoclaved and live culture of isolate TDGB 406 (10(6) cells/ml), respectively. The animals were fed with oak leaves as a basal roughage source and maize hay along with fixed quantity of concentrate mixture. After 4 months of feeding, the animals were slaughtered for carcass studies. The feeding of live culture of isolate TDGB 406 did not cause any effect (P > 0.05) on pre-slaughter weight, empty body weight, carcass weight, dressing percent, and yield of wholesale cuts (neck, rack, shoulder, breast, shank, loin, leg, and flank) of the goat meat. The chemical composition of longissimus dorsi muscle was comparable (P > 0.05) among the groups. The organoleptic evaluation of pressure-cooked meat in terms of tenderness and overall palatability was increased significantly (P meat of group 3 where live culture was supplemented. The other attributes were similar among the groups. It was concluded that supplementation of tannin-degrading bacteria S. gallolyticus strain TDGB 406 to goats fed with oak leaves did not affect the carcass characteristics and meat quality.

The Temporary Leave Dilemma -

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amilon, Anna

2010-01-01

Lone mothers have to take care of a sick child with little or no help from the child’s other parent and have to carry all costs connected to leave-taking. This paper empirically tests whether lone mothers take more temporary parental leave to care for sick children than partnered mothers...... and whether parental leave is associated with a signaling cost. The results from this study of Swedish mothers show that lone mothers use more temporary parental leave than partnered mothers. Further, within the group of lone mothers, those with higher socioeconomic status take less temporary parental leave...... than those with lower socioeconomic status, whereas no such differences are found within the group of partnered mothers. One possible interpretation is that signaling costs negatively influence the utilization of temporary parental leave for lone mothers....

In vivo cell tracking with bioluminescence imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jung Eun; Kalimuthu, Senthilkumar; Ahn, Byeong Cheol [Dept. of Nuclear Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine and Hospital, Daegu (Korea, Republic of)

2015-03-15

Molecular imaging is a fast growing biomedical research that allows the visual representation, characterization and quantification of biological processes at the cellular and subcellular levels within intact living organisms. In vivo tracking of cells is an indispensable technology for development and optimization of cell therapy for replacement or renewal of damaged or diseased tissue using transplanted cells, often autologous cells. With outstanding advantages of bioluminescence imaging, the imaging approach is most commonly applied for in vivo monitoring of transplanted stem cells or immune cells in order to assess viability of administered cells with therapeutic efficacy in preclinical small animal models. In this review, a general overview of bioluminescence is provided and recent updates of in vivo cell tracking using the bioluminescence signal are discussed.

["Paternity leave"? Retrospective view on a delayed reform of maternity leave in Austria].

Science.gov (United States)

Munz, R

1984-01-01

Only 1 of 3 Austrian fathers involves himself daily in child rearing, and the younger the children, the less likely he is to be involved. Austria is among those European countries with the greatest pregnancy benefits. New mothers may take up to 1 year of paid maternity leave without fear of losing their jobs. This article uses 1982 Institute of Demography survey data to determine support for similar paternity leave for fathers. In the last few years, both Social Democrat and Conservative women have worked for this leave, although the movement has also found opposition by women in trade unions, as well as from conservative groups. Survey results show that 46% of married Austrian women, under age 40, favor paternity leave; 1 or 4 women can imagine their husbands taking such leave. Among husbands, 34% favored the leave option, and 1 of 4 could imagine taking the leave for a least part of the baby's first year. The study attempts to identify those husbands most likely to take advantage of paternity leave. At present, most men will not choose to stay with their children at the expense of earnings reduction. Compensation reforms for both mothers and fathers must first occur before men and women in a position to make real decisions on maternity and paternity leave.

Phytochemical and biological studies of Butia capitata Becc. leaves cultivated in Egypt

OpenAIRE

Nagwa Mohamed Ammar; Mohammed Said Hefnawy; Sahar Youssef Al-Okbi; Doha Abdou Mohamed; Nabil Khamis El-Sayed; Amira Ahmed El-Anssary; Tom Mabry

2014-01-01

Objective: To study the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of Butia capitata (B. capitata) leaf extracts along with phytochemical analysis of the proposed bioactive constituents. Methods: Different successive extracts of B. capitata Becc. leaves were prepared with selective organic solvents and screened for their anti-inflammatory activities in tested animals and in-vitro antioxidant effect. An extensive phytochemical investigation of the bioactive extracts through paper chromatogr...

Computer Graphics Animation for Objective Self-Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Usui, Yoko; Sato, Katsumi; Watabe, Shinichi

2017-01-01

The increased number of students enrolling in dance classes in Japan has resulted in a shortage of qualified instructors, leaving classes to be taught by instructors who are not trained in dance. The authors developed a system specifically designed to help nonqualified dance instructors teach dance using motion capture and animation. The goal is to allow dancers to easily self-evaluate their own performances by comparing it to a standard example.

Luminescent tracks of high-energy photoemitted electrons accelerated by plasmonic fields

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Di Vece Marcel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The emission of an electron from a metal nanostructure under illumination and its subsequent acceleration in a plasmonic field forms a platform to extend these phenomena to deposited nanoparticles, which can be studied by state-of-the-art confocal microscopy combined with femtosecond optical excitation. The emitted and accelerated electrons leave defect tracks in the immersion oil, which can be revealed by thermoluminescence. These photographic tracks are read out with the confocal microscope and have a maximum length of about 80 μm, which corresponds to a kinetic energy of about 100 keV. This energy is consistent with the energy provided by the intense laser pulse combined with plasmonic local field enhancement. The results are discussed within the context of the rescattering model by which electrons acquire more energy. The visualization of electron tracks originating from plasmonic field enhancement around a gold nanoparticle opens a new way to study with confocal microscopy both the plasmonic properties of metal nano objects as well as high energy electron interaction with matter.

First Demonstration of Combined kV/MV Image-Guided Real-Time Dynamic Multileaf-Collimator Target Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Byungchul; Poulsen, Per R.; Sloutsky, Alex; Sawant, Amit; Keall, Paul J.

2009-01-01

Purpose: For intrafraction motion management, a real-time tracking system was developed by combining fiducial marker-based tracking via simultaneous kilovoltage (kV) and megavoltage (MV) imaging and a dynamic multileaf collimator (DMLC) beam-tracking system. Methods and Materials: The integrated tracking system employed a Varian Trilogy system equipped with kV/MV imaging systems and a Millennium 120-leaf MLC. A gold marker in elliptical motion (2-cm superior-inferior, 1-cm left-right, 10 cycles/min) was simultaneously imaged by the kV and MV imagers at 6.7 Hz and segmented in real time. With these two-dimensional projections, the tracking software triangulated the three-dimensional marker position and repositioned the MLC leaves to follow the motion. Phantom studies were performed to evaluate time delay from image acquisition to MLC adjustment, tracking error, and dosimetric impact of target motion with and without tracking. Results: The time delay of the integrated tracking system was ∼450 ms. The tracking error using a prediction algorithm was 0.9 ± 0.5 mm for the elliptical motion. The dose distribution with tracking showed better target coverage and less dose to surrounding region over no tracking. The failure rate of the gamma test (3%/3-mm criteria) was 22.5% without tracking but was reduced to 0.2% with tracking. Conclusion: For the first time, a complete tracking system combining kV/MV image-guided target tracking and DMLC beam tracking was demonstrated. The average geometric error was less than 1 mm, and the dosimetric error was negligible. This system is a promising method for intrafraction motion management.

Spatial memory and animal movement.

Science.gov (United States)

Fagan, William F; Lewis, Mark A; Auger-Méthé, Marie; Avgar, Tal; Benhamou, Simon; Breed, Greg; LaDage, Lara; Schlägel, Ulrike E; Tang, Wen-wu; Papastamatiou, Yannis P; Forester, James; Mueller, Thomas

2013-10-01

Memory is critical to understanding animal movement but has proven challenging to study. Advances in animal tracking technology, theoretical movement models and cognitive sciences have facilitated research in each of these fields, but also created a need for synthetic examination of the linkages between memory and animal movement. Here, we draw together research from several disciplines to understand the relationship between animal memory and movement processes. First, we frame the problem in terms of the characteristics, costs and benefits of memory as outlined in psychology and neuroscience. Next, we provide an overview of the theories and conceptual frameworks that have emerged from behavioural ecology and animal cognition. Third, we turn to movement ecology and summarise recent, rapid developments in the types and quantities of available movement data, and in the statistical measures applicable to such data. Fourth, we discuss the advantages and interrelationships of diverse modelling approaches that have been used to explore the memory-movement interface. Finally, we outline key research challenges for the memory and movement communities, focusing on data needs and mathematical and computational challenges. We conclude with a roadmap for future work in this area, outlining axes along which focused research should yield rapid progress. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

[Disability leave and sick leave in Spain. 2016 legislative update].

Science.gov (United States)

Vicente-Herrero, María Teófila; Terradillos-García, María Jesús; Capdevila-García, Luisa M; Ramírez-Íñiguez de la Torre, María Victoria; Aguilar-Jiménez, Encarna; Aguado-Benedí, María José; López-González, Angel Arturo; Torres-Alberich, José Ignacio

2018-01-01

In Spanish, the concepts of discapacidad (disability leave) and incapacidad (sick leave) jointly refer to the impairment of a person due to injuries, diseases or deficiencies that limit their activity in a social, personal or occupational field. However, this common link does not imply that both concepts are the same. Statistical data from INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística: Statistic National Institute) show that Spain had in 2015 3.85 million persons with a disability (59.8% were women). Statistical data from 2015 from INSS (Instituto Nacional de Seguridad Social: Social Security National Institute) show high levels in the number of processes and in workers affected by temporary sick leave, with social costs to the social security system. Both concepts have been updated: about disability leave, Law 39/2006 adjusted terminology by avoiding the use of concepts with discriminating or pejorative connotation. Regarding sick leave, the Ley General de Seguridad Social (General Social Security Law)has been amended and came into effect in January, 2016. It is necessary to know and distinguish these aspects for a better administrative management, and a more oriented information to the affected patient.

Electron-tracking Compton gamma-ray camera for small animal and phantom imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kabuki, Shigeto, E-mail: kabuki@cr.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.j [Department of Physics, Gradulate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan); Kimura, Hiroyuki; Amano, Hiroo [Department of Patho-functional Bioanalysis, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501 (Japan); Nakamoto, Yuji [Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan); Kubo, Hidetoshi; Miuchi, Kentaro; Kurosawa, Shunsuke; Takahashi, Michiaki [Department of Physics, Gradulate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan); Kawashima, Hidekazu [Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan); Ueda, Masashi [Radioisotopes Research Labaoratory, Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan); Okada, Tomohisa [Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan); Kubo, Atsushi; Kunieda, Etuso; Nakahara, Tadaki [Department of Radiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Kohara, Ryota; Miyazaki, Osamu; Nakazawa, Tetsuo; Shirahata, Takashi; Yamamoto, Etsuji [Application Development Office, Hitachi Medical Corporation, Chiba 277-0804 (Japan); Ogawa, Koichi [Department of Electronic Informatics, Faculty of Engineering, Hosei University, Tokyo 184-8584 (Japan)

2010-11-01

We have developed an electron-tracking Compton camera (ETCC) for medical use. Our ETCC has a wide energy dynamic range (200-1300 keV) and wide field of view (3 sr), and thus has potential for advanced medical use. To evaluate the ETCC, we imaged the head (brain) and bladder of mice that had been administered with F-18-FDG. We also imaged the head and thyroid gland of mice using double tracers of F-18-FDG and I-131 ions.

Rapid oxygen exchange across the leaves of Littorella uniflora provides tolerance to sediment anoxia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Claus Lindskov; Jensen, Kaj Sand

2012-01-01

1. Littorella uniflora and Lobelia dortmanna are prominent small rosette species in nutrient-poor, soft-water lakes because of efficient root exchange of CO2 and O2. We hypothesise that higher gas exchange across the leaves of L.similar to uniflora than of L.similar to dortmanna ensures O2 uptake...... from water and underlies its greater tolerance to sediment anoxia following organic enrichment. 2. We studied plant response to varying sediment O2 demand and biogeochemistry by measuring photosynthesis, gas exchange across leaves and O2 dynamics in plants during long-term laboratory and field studies....... Frequent non-destructive sampling of sediment pore water was used to track changes in sediment biogeochemistry. 3. Addition of organic matter triggered O2 depletion and accumulation of , Fe2+ and CO2 in sediments. Gas exchange across leaf surfaces was 1316 times higher for L.similar to uniflora than for L...

Enhancing the use of Argos satellite data for home range and long distance migration studies of marine animals.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xavier Hoenner

Full Text Available Accurately quantifying animals' spatial utilisation is critical for conservation, but has long remained an elusive goal due to technological impediments. The Argos telemetry system has been extensively used to remotely track marine animals, however location estimates are characterised by substantial spatial error. State-space models (SSM constitute a robust statistical approach to refine Argos tracking data by accounting for observation errors and stochasticity in animal movement. Despite their wide use in ecology, few studies have thoroughly quantified the error associated with SSM predicted locations and no research has assessed their validity for describing animal movement behaviour. We compared home ranges and migratory pathways of seven hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata estimated from (a highly accurate Fastloc GPS data and (b locations computed using common Argos data analytical approaches. Argos 68(th percentile error was 4 km for LC ≤ 0. Argos error structure was highly longitudinally skewed and was, for all LC, adequately modelled by a Student's t distribution. Both habitat use and migration routes were best recreated using SSM locations post-processed by re-adding good Argos positions (LC 1, 2 and 3 and filtering terrestrial points (mean distance to migratory tracks ± SD = 2.2 ± 2.4 km; mean home range overlap and error ratio = 92.2% and 285.6 respectively. This parsimonious and objective statistical procedure however still markedly overestimated true home range sizes, especially for animals exhibiting restricted movements. Post-processing SSM locations nonetheless constitutes the best analytical technique for remotely sensed Argos tracking data and we therefore recommend using this approach to rework historical Argos datasets for better estimation of animal spatial utilisation for research and evidence-based conservation purposes.

A simultaneous localization and tracking method for a worm tracking system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kowalski Mateusz

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The idea of worm tracking refers to the path analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes and is an important tool in neurobiology which helps to describe their behavior. Knowledge about nematode behavior can be applied as a model to study the physiological addiction process or other nervous system processes in animals and humans. Tracking is performed by using a special manipulator positioning a microscope with a camera over a dish with an observed individual. In the paper, the accuracy of a nematode’s trajectory reconstruction is investigated. Special attention is paid to analyzing errors that occurred during the microscope displacements. Two sources of errors in the trajectory reconstruction are shown. One is due to the difficulty in accurately measuring the microscope shift, the other is due to a nematode displacement during the microscope movement. A new method that increases path reconstruction accuracy based only on the registered sequence of images is proposed. The method Simultaneously Localizes And Tracks (SLAT the nematodes, and is robust to the positioning system displacement errors. The proposed method predicts the nematode position by using NonParametric Regression (NPR. In addition, two other methods of the SLAT problem are implemented to evaluate the NPR method. The first consists in ignoring the nematode displacement during microscope movement, and the second is based on a Kalman filter. The results suggest that the SLAT method based on nonparametric regression gives the most promising results and decreases the error of trajectory reconstruction by 25% compared with reconstruction based on data from the positioning system

Parental Leave Policies and Parents' Employment and Leave-Taking

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Wen-Jui; Ruhm, Christopher; Waldfogel, Jane

2009-01-01

We describe trends in maternal employment and leave-taking after birth of a newborn and analyze the extent to which these behaviors are influenced by parental leave policies. Data are from the June Current Population Survey (CPS) Fertility Supplements, merged with other months of the CPS, and cover the period 1987 to 1994. This time span is one…

Track Detection in Railway Sidings Based on MEMS Gyroscope Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Broquetas, Antoni; Comerón, Adolf; Gelonch, Antoni; Fuertes, Josep M.; Castro, J. Antonio; Felip, Damià; López, Miguel A.; Pulido, José A.

2012-01-01

The paper presents a two-step technique for real-time track detection in single-track railway sidings using low-cost MEMS gyroscopes. The objective is to reliably know the path the train has taken in a switch, diverted or main road, immediately after the train head leaves the switch. The signal delivered by the gyroscope is first processed by an adaptive low-pass filter that rejects noise and converts the temporal turn rate data in degree/second units into spatial turn rate data in degree/meter. The conversion is based on the travelled distance taken from odometer data. The filter is implemented to achieve a speed-dependent cut-off frequency to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. Although direct comparison of the filtered turn rate signal with a predetermined threshold is possible, the paper shows that better detection performance can be achieved by processing the turn rate signal with a filter matched to the rail switch curvature parameters. Implementation aspects of the track detector have been optimized for real-time operation. The detector has been tested with both simulated data and real data acquired in railway campaigns. PMID:23443376

On the Th internal contamination of animals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciubotariu, M.; Danis, A.; Dumitrescu, G.

2000-01-01

Fissionable elements (U,Th) internal contamination have been studied using the fission track method as analysis method of the U and/or Th contaminant elements and Wistar-London breed rats as experiment animals. In our previous studies on the Th internal contamination, we investigated the Th biodistribution and retention in all the vital organs of the contaminated rats. In this stage, we continued this study with the Th elimination investigation through urine and excrements. The identical aliquot parts of a solution calibrated in Th, corresponding to an Annual Limit Intake, three Wistar-London breed rats were contaminated. They were kept in normal life conditions and under permanent medical surveillance up to their sacrifice. The animals were sacrificed at different time intervals after their contamination: RAT 1 = 2 days, RAT 2 = 7 days and RAT 3 = 14 days, respectively. After the sacrifice, their vital organs were sampled, weighed, calcined, re-weighed and finally analysed by track detection using the fission track micro-mappings technique. The evacuations were sampled every 24 hours: urine, on the filter paper, and all excrements balls. The samples were weighed before and after calcination and analysed in the same way as the vital organs. The Th fission track micro-mappings technique was used in the following conditions: - mica-muscovite as track detector pre-etched for fossil tracks 18 h in HF-40 per cent at room temperature; - the neutron irradiations were performed in the nuclear reactor WWR-S Bucharest at the neutron fluences of 3·10 15 - 2·10 16 fast neutrons/cm 2 ; - the visualization of the Th induced fission tracks was obtained by chemical etching in HF-40 %, 3 h at room temperature; - the Th track micromappings obtained in track detectors were studied by optical microscopy using a stereo microscope WILD M7S for ensemble study (X6-X31) and a binocular Zeiss JENA microscope for qualitative and quantitative studies (X150). The investigation of the Th

A gamma-ray tracking detector for molecular imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hall, C.J.; Lewis, R.A.; Helsby, W.I.; Nolan, P.; Boston, A.

2003-01-01

A design for a gamma-ray detector for molecular imaging is presented. The system is based on solid-state strip detector technology. The advantages of position sensitivity coupled with fine spectral resolution are exploited to produce a tracking detector for use with a variety of isotopes in nuclear medicine. Current design concepts employ both silicon and germanium layers to provide an energy range from 60 keV to >1 MeV. This allows a reference X-ray image to be collected simultaneously with the gamma-ray image providing accurate anatomical registration. The tracking ability of the gamma-ray detector allows ambiguities in the data set to be resolved which would otherwise cause events to be rejected in standard non-tracking system. Efficiency improvements that high solid angle coverage and the use of a higher proportion of events make time resolved imaging and multi-isotope work possible. A modular detector system, designed for viewing small animals has been accepted for funding

29 CFR 825.205 - Increments of FMLA leave for intermittent or reduced schedule leave.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... intermittent leave or working a reduced leave schedule to commence or end work mid-way through a shift, such as... per week, but works only 20 hours a week under a reduced leave schedule, the employee's ten hours of... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Increments of FMLA leave for intermittent or reduced...

Automatically tracking neurons in a moving and deforming brain.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey P Nguyen

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Advances in optical neuroimaging techniques now allow neural activity to be recorded with cellular resolution in awake and behaving animals. Brain motion in these recordings pose a unique challenge. The location of individual neurons must be tracked in 3D over time to accurately extract single neuron activity traces. Recordings from small invertebrates like C. elegans are especially challenging because they undergo very large brain motion and deformation during animal movement. Here we present an automated computer vision pipeline to reliably track populations of neurons with single neuron resolution in the brain of a freely moving C. elegans undergoing large motion and deformation. 3D volumetric fluorescent images of the animal's brain are straightened, aligned and registered, and the locations of neurons in the images are found via segmentation. Each neuron is then assigned an identity using a new time-independent machine-learning approach we call Neuron Registration Vector Encoding. In this approach, non-rigid point-set registration is used to match each segmented neuron in each volume with a set of reference volumes taken from throughout the recording. The way each neuron matches with the references defines a feature vector which is clustered to assign an identity to each neuron in each volume. Finally, thin-plate spline interpolation is used to correct errors in segmentation and check consistency of assigned identities. The Neuron Registration Vector Encoding approach proposed here is uniquely well suited for tracking neurons in brains undergoing large deformations. When applied to whole-brain calcium imaging recordings in freely moving C. elegans, this analysis pipeline located 156 neurons for the duration of an 8 minute recording and consistently found more neurons more quickly than manual or semi-automated approaches.

Studying the movement behaviour of benthic macroinvertebrates with automated video tracking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Augusiak, J.A.; Brink, van den P.J.

2015-01-01

Quantifying and understanding movement is critical for a wide range of questions in basic and applied ecology. Movement ecology is also fostered by technological advances that allow automated tracking for a wide range of animal species. However, for aquatic macroinvertebrates, such detailed methods

A tracking system for laboratory mice to support medical researchers in behavioral analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Macrì, S; Mainetti, L; Patrono, L; Pieretti, S; Secco, A; Sergi, I

2015-08-01

The behavioral analysis of laboratory mice plays a key role in several medical and scientific research areas, such as biology, toxicology, pharmacology, and so on. Important information on mice behavior and their reaction to a particular stimulus is deduced from a careful analysis of their movements. Moreover, behavioral analysis of genetically modified mice allows obtaining important information about particular genes, phenotypes or drug effects. The techniques commonly adopted to support such analysis have many limitations, which make the related systems particularly ineffective. Currently, the engineering community is working to explore innovative identification and sensing technologies to develop new tracking systems able to guarantee benefits to animals' behavior analysis. This work presents a tracking solution based on passive Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) in Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band. Much emphasis is given to the software component of the system, based on a Web-oriented solution, able to process the raw tracking data coming from a hardware system, and offer 2D and 3D tracking information as well as reports and dashboards about mice behavior. The system has been widely tested using laboratory mice and compared with an automated video-tracking software (i.e., EthoVision). The obtained results have demonstrated the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed solution, which is able to correctly detect the events occurring in the animals' cage, and to offer a complete and user-friendly tool to support researchers in behavioral analysis of laboratory mice.

Effect of track etch rate on geometric track characteristics for polymeric track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Naby, A.A.; El-Akkad, F.A.

2001-01-01

Analysis of the variable track etch rate on geometric track characteristic for polymeric track detectors has been applied to the case of LR-155 II SSNTD. Spectrometric characteristics of low energy alpha particles response by the polymeric detector have been obtained. The track etching kinematics theory of development of minor diameter of the etched tracks has been applied. The calculations show that, for this type of detector, the energy dependence of the minor track diameter d is linear for small-etched removal layer h. The energy resolution gets better for higher etched removal layer

Quantitative analysis of spider locomotion employing computer-automated video tracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baatrup, E; Bayley, M

1993-01-01

The locomotor activity of adult specimens of the wolf spider Pardosa amentata was measured in an open-field setup, using computer-automated colour object video tracking. The x,y coordinates of the animal in the digitized image of the test arena were recorded three times per second during four...

Listening to the Voice of Silences: Animism in Jeannette Armstrong's Breath Tracks

OpenAIRE

Kina, Ikue; 喜納, 育江

2003-01-01

Jeannette Armstrong は、アメリカのワシントン州とカナダのブリティッシュコロンビア州の境界に生きるオカナガン先住民族の書き手である。1990年の詩集 Breath Tracks において、彼女は、先住民としてその生まれ育った大地とそこに生きる様々な生命とどのように関わり合い、生きてきたかを描いているが、その関係性を描くための素地となる Armstrong の自然観には、先住民族が伝統的に育んできたアニミズムという自然観が反映されている。本稿では、David Abram の言語論に言及しながら、アニミズムという自然観がつくりだす詩的言語の可能性について、Armstrong 自身の発言と、Breath Tracks にある数編の詩を中心に考察していく。特に、Breath Tracks に頻出する「沈黙」に着日し、自然界において人間には知覚できない「自然の言語」を、先住民の書き手として Armstrong がどのように言語化しているか、そして、その言諦化のプロセスの中で、Abramの説く「身体的言語（bodily　language）」がどのような形で表出しているかにつ...

The dosimetric impact of inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plan modulation for real-time dynamic MLC tracking delivery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Falk, Marianne; Larsson, Tobias; Keall, P.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Real-time dynamic multileaf collimator (MLC) tracking for management of intrafraction tumor motion can be challenging for highly modulated beams, as the leaves need to travel far to adjust for target motion perpendicular to the leaf travel direction. The plan modulation can be reduced......-to-peak displacement of 2 cm and a cycle time of 6 s. The delivery was adjusted to the target motion using MLC tracking, guided in real-time by an infrared optical system. The dosimetric results were evaluated using gamma index evaluation with static target measurements as reference. Results: The plan quality...

Toxic effects of prolonged administration of leaves of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) to goats.

Science.gov (United States)

Soto-Blanco, Benito; Górniak, Silvana Lima

2010-07-01

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a major source of dietary energy for humans and domestic animals in many tropical countries. However, consumption of cassava is limited by its characteristic content of cyanogenic glycosides. The present work aimed to evaluate the toxic effects of ingestion of cassava leaves by goats for 30 consecutive days, and to compare the results with the toxic effects of cyanide in goats, which have been described previously. Eight Alpine cross-bred female goats were divided into two equal groups, and were treated with ground frozen cassava leaves at a target dose of 6.0mg hydrogen cyanide (HCN)/kg/day (treated animals), or with ground hay and water only (control group) by gavage for 30 consecutive days. Blood samples were collected on days 0, 7, 15, 21, and 30 for biochemical panel and cyanide determination. At the end of the experiment, fragments of pancreas, thyroid gland, liver, kidney, lungs, heart, spleen, and the whole central nervous system were collected for histopathological examination. Clinical signs were observed in all goats treated with cassava on the first day of the experiment. From the second day the dose of cassava leaves was reduced to 4.5mgHCN/kg/day. No changes were found in the blood chemical panel. A mild increase in the number of resorption vacuoles in the thyroid follicular colloid, slight vacuolation of periportal hepatocytes, and spongiosis of the mesencephalon were found in goats treated with cassava. The pattern of lesions seen in the present goats was similar to what has been described previously in cyanide-dosed goats. Thus, the toxic effects of the ingestion of cassava leaves by goats can be attributed to the action of cyanide released from cyanogenic glycosides, and none of the effects was promoted by these glycosides directly.

How Big Data Fast Tracked Human Mobility Research and the Lessons for Animal Movement Ecology

KAUST Repository

Thums, Michele; Ferná ndez-Gracia, Juan; Sequeira, Ana M. M.; Eguí luz, Ví ctor M.; Duarte, Carlos M.; Meekan, Mark G.

2018-01-01

The rise of the internet coupled with technological innovations such as smartphones have generated massive volumes of geo-referenced data (big data) on human mobility. This has allowed the number of studies of human mobility to rapidly overtake those of animal movement. Today, telemetry studies of animals are also approaching big data status. Here, we review recent advances in studies of human mobility and identify the opportunities they present for advancing our understanding of animal movement. We describe key analytical techniques, potential bottlenecks and a roadmap for progress toward a synthesis of movement patterns of wild animals.

How Big Data Fast Tracked Human Mobility Research and the Lessons for Animal Movement Ecology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele Thums

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The rise of the internet coupled with technological innovations such as smartphones have generated massive volumes of geo-referenced data (big data on human mobility. This has allowed the number of studies of human mobility to rapidly overtake those of animal movement. Today, telemetry studies of animals are also approaching big data status. Here, we review recent advances in studies of human mobility and identify the opportunities they present for advancing our understanding of animal movement. We describe key analytical techniques, potential bottlenecks and a roadmap for progress toward a synthesis of movement patterns of wild animals.

How Big Data Fast Tracked Human Mobility Research and the Lessons for Animal Movement Ecology

KAUST Repository

Thums, Michele

2018-02-13

The rise of the internet coupled with technological innovations such as smartphones have generated massive volumes of geo-referenced data (big data) on human mobility. This has allowed the number of studies of human mobility to rapidly overtake those of animal movement. Today, telemetry studies of animals are also approaching big data status. Here, we review recent advances in studies of human mobility and identify the opportunities they present for advancing our understanding of animal movement. We describe key analytical techniques, potential bottlenecks and a roadmap for progress toward a synthesis of movement patterns of wild animals.

Maternity Leave Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Strang, Lucy; Broeks, Miriam

2017-01-01

Abstract Over recent years many European Union countries have made changes to the design of the maternity leave provision. These policy developments reflect calls for greater gender equality in the workforce and more equal share of childcare responsibilities. However, while research shows that long period of leave can have negative effects on women's labour market attachment and career advancements, early return to work can be seen as a factor preventing exclusive breastfeeding, and therefore, potentially having negative health impacts for babies. Indeed, the World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months of age to provide babies with the nutrition for healthy growth and brain development, protection from life-threatening ailments, obesity and non-communicable diseases such as asthma and diabetes. Therefore, labour market demands on women may be at odds with the health benefits for children gained by longer periods of maternity leave. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between leave provision and health benefits for children. We examine maternity and parental leave provision across European countries and its potential impact on the breastfeeding of very young babies (up to 6-months of age). We also consider economic factors of potential extension of maternity leave provision to 6 months, such as costs to businesses, effects on the female labour market attachment, and wider consequences (benefits and costs) for individuals, families, employers and the wider society. PMID:28983432

5 CFR 630.1104 - Donations from a leave bank to an emergency leave transfer program.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Donations from a leave bank to an emergency leave transfer program. 630.1104 Section 630.1104 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS ABSENCE AND LEAVE Emergency Leave Transfer Program § 630.1104 Donations...

Impact or push-off lameness presentation is not altered by the type of track surface where horses are trotted

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.S. Azevedo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the track surface on which horses are examined, regarding the phase of lameness presentation. Ten horses with lameness in at least one limb were evaluated with wireless inertial sensors on three track surfaces (concrete, loose sand and grass. Six crossover track sequences were established. The variables vector sum, maximum and minimum height of the head and pelvis, variation coefficient of the maximum and minimum height of the head and pelvis were analyzed using ANOVA, followed by Tukey test to compare means between track surface and sequence, at 5% significance level. The lameness phase (impact or pushoff was analyzed considering the proportion of affected animals. There were no differences on vector sum, maximum and minimum height or variation coefficient of head and pelvis. Difference was observed on the number of strides registered on sand compared to grass and concrete (p <0.0001 for fore and hindlimbs. Impact lameness on forelimbs was presented by a larger number of animals on the concrete surface; pushoff lameness was more evident on the grass surface. In the hindlimbs, impact lameness was more evident on the grass surface, while pushoff lameness was in greater number of animals on concrete surfaces. The track sequence on which horses were trotted during evaluation does not seem to be a factor, but the number of lame horses and the phase of lameness manifestation can vary between track surfaces, as some horses showed impact lameness on soft ground and elevation lameness on hard ground.

Work-family balance after childbirth: the association between employer-offered leave characteristics and maternity leave duration.

Science.gov (United States)

Guendelman, Sylvia; Goodman, Julia; Kharrazi, Martin; Lahiff, Maureen

2014-01-01

Early return to work after childbirth has been increasing among working mothers in the US. We assessed the relationship between access to employer-offered maternity leave (EOML) (both paid and unpaid) and uptake and duration of maternity leave following childbirth in a socio-economically diverse sample of full-time working women. We focus on California, a state that has long provided more generous maternity leave benefits than those offered by federal maternity leave policies through the State Disability Insurance program. The sample included 691 mothers who gave birth in Southern California in 2002-2003. Using weighted logistic regression, we examined the EOML-maternity leave duration relationship, controlling for whether the leave was paid, as well as other occupational, personality and health-related covariates. Compared with mothers who were offered more than 12 weeks of maternity leave, mothers with leave had six times higher odds of an early return. These relationships were similar after controlling for whether the leave was paid and after controlling for other occupational and health characteristics. Access to and duration of employer-offered maternity leave significantly determine timing of return to work following childbirth, potentially affecting work-family balance. Policy makers should recognize the pivotal role of employers in offering job security during and after maternity leave and consider widening the eligibility criteria of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Robot arm based flat panel CT-guided electromagnetic tracked spine interventions: phantom and animal model experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Penzkofer, Tobias; Isfort, Peter; Bruners, Philipp; Mahnken, Andreas H. [RWTH Aachen University, Applied Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute Aachen, Aachen (Germany); RWTH Aachen University, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Aachen University Hospital, Aachen (Germany); Wiemann, Christian; Guenther, Rolf W. [RWTH Aachen University, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Aachen University Hospital, Aachen (Germany); Kyriakou, Yiannis; Kalender, Willi A. [Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Medical Physics, Erlangen (Germany); Schmitz-Rode, Thomas [RWTH Aachen University, Applied Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute Aachen, Aachen (Germany)

2010-11-15

To evaluate accuracy and procedure times of electromagnetic tracking (EMT) in a robotic arm mounted flat panel setting using phantom and animal cadaveric models. A robotic arm mounted flat panel (RMFP) was used in combination with EMT to perform anthropomorphic phantom (n = 90) and ex vivo pig based punctures (n = 120) of lumbar facet joints (FJ, n = 120) and intervertebral discs (IVD, n = 90). Procedure accuracies and times were assessed and evaluated. FJ punctures were carried out with a spatial accuracy of 0.8 {+-} 0.9 mm (phantom) and 0.6 {+-} 0.8 mm (ex vivo) respectively. While IVD punctures showed puncture deviations of 0.6 {+-} 1.2 mm (phantom) and 0.5 {+-} 0.6 mm (ex vivo), direct and angulated phantom based punctures had accuracies of 0.8 {+-} 0.9 mm and 1.0 {+-} 1.3 mm. Planning took longer for ex vivo IVD punctures compared to phantom model interventions (39.3 {+-} 17.3 s vs. 20.8 {+-} 5.0 s, p = 0.001) and for angulated vs. direct phantom FJ punctures (19.7 {+-} 5.1 s vs. 28.6 {+-} 7.8 s, p < 0.001). Puncture times were longer for ex vivo procedures when compared to phantom model procedures in both FJ (37.9 {+-} 9.0 s vs. 23.6 {+-} 7.2 s, p = 0.001) and IVD punctures (43.9 {+-} 16.1 s vs. 31.1 {+-} 6.4 s, p = 0.026). The combination of RMFP with EMT provides an accurate method of navigation for spinal interventions such as facet joint punctures and intervertebral disc punctures. (orig.)

A wirelessly-powered homecage with animal behavior analysis and closed-loop power control.

Science.gov (United States)

Yaoyao Jia; Zheyuan Wang; Canales, Daniel; Tinkler, Morgan; Chia-Chun Hsu; Madsen, Teresa E; Mirbozorgi, S Abdollah; Rainnie, Donald; Ghovanloo, Maysam

2016-08-01

This paper presents a new EnerCage-homecage system, EnerCage-HC2, for longitudinal electrophysiology data acquisition experiments on small freely moving animal subjects, such as rodents. EnerCage-HC2 is equipped with multi-coil wireless power transmission (WPT), closed-loop power control, bidirectional data communication via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Microsoft Kinect® based animal behavior tracking and analysis. The EnerCage-HC2 achieves a homogeneous power transfer efficiency (PTE) of 14% on average, with ~42 mW power delivered to the load (PDL) at a nominal height of 7 cm by the closed-loop power control mechanism. The Microsoft Kinect® behavioral analysis algorithm can not only track the animal position in real-time but also classify 5 different types of rodent behaviors: standstill, walking, grooming, rearing, and rotating. A proof-of-concept in vivo experiment was conducted on two awake freely behaving rats while successfully operating a one-channel stimulator and generating an ethogram.

Do terrestrial animals avoid areas close to turbines in functioning wind farms in agricultural landscapes?

Science.gov (United States)

Łopucki, Rafał; Klich, Daniel; Gielarek, Sylwia

2017-07-01

Most studies on the effects of wind energy on animals have focused on avian and bat activity, habitat use, and mortality, whereas very few have been published on terrestrial, non-volant wildlife. In this paper, we studied the utilization of functioning wind farm areas by four terrestrial animals common to agricultural landscapes: European roe deer, European hare, red fox, and the common pheasant. Firstly, we expected that the studied animals do not avoid areas close to turbines and utilize the whole area of functioning wind farms with a frequency similar to the control areas. Secondly, we expected that there is no relation between the turbine proximity and the number of tracks of these animals. The study was conducted over two winter seasons using the snow-tracking method along 100 m linear transects. In total, 583 transects were recorded. Wind farm operations may affect terrestrial animals both in wind farm interiors and in a 700-m buffer zone around the edge of turbines. The reactions of animals were species specific. Herbivorous mammals (roe deer and European hare) avoided wind farm interiors and proximity to turbines. The common pheasant showed a positive reaction to wind turbine proximity. The red fox had the most neutral response to wind turbines. Although this species visited wind farm interiors less often than the control area, there was no relation between fox track density and turbine proximity. Greater weight should be given to the effects of wind farms on non-flying wildlife than at present. Investors and regulatory authorities should always consider the likely impacts of wind farms during environmental impact assessments and try to reduce these negative effects.

Maternity leave duration and postpartum mental and physical health: implications for leave policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Dagher, Rada K; McGovern, Patricia M; Dowd, Bryan E

2014-04-01

This study examines the association of leave duration with depressive symptoms, mental health, physical health, and maternal symptoms in the first postpartum year, using a prospective cohort design. Eligible employed women, eighteen years or older, were interviewed in person at three Minnesota hospitals while hospitalized for childbirth in 2001. Telephone interviews were conducted at six weeks (N = 716), twelve weeks (N = 661), six months (N = 625), and twelve months (N = 575) after delivery. Depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale), mental and physical health (SF-12 Health Survey), and maternal childbirth-related symptoms were measured at each time period. Two-stage least squares analysis showed that the relationship between leave duration and postpartum depressive symptoms is U-shaped, with a minimum at six months. In the first postpartum year, an increase in leave duration is associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms until six months postpartum. Moreover, ordinary least squares analysis showed a marginally significant linear positive association between leave duration and physical health. Taking leave from work provides time for mothers to rest and recover from pregnancy and childbirth. Findings indicate that the current leave duration provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act, twelve weeks, may not be sufficient for mothers at risk for or experiencing postpartum depression.

Latent tracks in polymeric etched track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamauchi, Tomoya

2013-01-01

Track registration properties in polymeric track detectors, including Poly(allyl diglycol carbonate), Bispenol A polycarbonate, Poly(ethylen terephtarate), and Polyimide, have been investigated by means of Fourie transform Infararede FT-IR spectrometry. Chemical criterion on the track formation threshold has been proposes, in stead of the conventional physical track registration models. (author)

Quality of Slab Track Construction - Track Alignment Design and Track Geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Šestáková, Janka

2015-05-01

The slab track superstructure design (without ballast) is a perspective construction especially for building tunnels and bridges in the modernized sections of railway tracks in Slovakia. Monitoring of the structure described in this article is focused on the transition areas between standard structure with ballast and slab track construction.

Toxicological evaluation of ethanolic extract from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni leaves: Genotoxicity and subchronic oral toxicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qiannan; Yang, Hui; Li, Yongning; Liu, Haibo; Jia, Xudong

2017-06-01

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni leaves have a long history of use as an abundant source of sweetener. The aqueous extract of stevia leaves and the predominant constitutes steviol glycosides have been intensively investigated. However, rare studies provided toxicological evaluation of bioactive components in the polar extract regarding their safety on human health. This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of ethanolic extract of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni leaves through a battery of in vitro and in vivo tests. Negative results were unanimously obtained from bacterial reverse mutation assay, mouse bone marrow micronucleus assay and mouse sperm malformation assay. Oral administration at dietary levels of 1.04%, 2.08% and 3.12% for 90 days did not induce significant behavioral, hematological, clinical, or histopathological changes in rats. Significant reduction of cholesterol, total protein and albumin was observed in female animals only at high dose level. The results demonstrated that Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni leaves ethanolic extract, which is rich in isochlorogenic acids, does not possess adverse effects through oral administration in this study. Our data provided supportive evidence for the safety of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni leaves that may potentially be used in functional foods as well as nutritional supplements beyond sweetner. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

IMRT delivery to a moving target by dynamic MLC tracking: delivery for targets moving in two dimensions in the beam's eye view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McQuaid, D; Webb, S

2006-01-01

A new modification of the dynamic multileaf collimator (dMLC) delivery technique for intensity-modulated therapy (IMRT) is outlined. This technique enables the tracking of a target moving through rigid-body translations in a 2D trajectory in the beam's eye view. The accuracy of the delivery versus that of deliveries with no tracking and of 1D tracking techniques is quantified with clinically derived intensity-modulated beams (IMBs). Leaf trajectories calculated in the target-reference frame were iteratively synchronized assuming regular target motion. This allowed the leaves defined in the lab-reference frame to simultaneously follow the target motion and to deliver the required IMB without violation of the leaf maximum-velocity constraint. The leaves are synchronized until the gradient of the leaf position at every instant is less than a calculated maximum. The delivered fluence in the target-reference frame was calculated with a simple primary-fluence model. The new 2D tracking technique was compared with the delivered fluence produced by no-tracking deliveries and by 1D tracking deliveries for 33 clinical IMBs. For the clinical IMBs normalized to a maximum fluence of 200 MUs, the rms difference between the desired and the delivered IMB was 15.6 ± 3.3 MU for the case of a no-tracking delivery, 7.9 ± 1.6 MU for the case where only the primary component of motion was corrected and 5.1 ± 1.1 MU for the 2D tracking delivery. The residual error is due to interpolation and sampling effects. The 2D tracking delivery technique requires an increase in the delivery time evaluated as between 0 and 50% of the unsynchronized delivery time for each beam with a mean increase of 13% for the IMBs tested. The 2D tracking dMLC delivery technique allows an optimized IMB to be delivered to moving targets with increased accuracy and with acceptable increases in delivery time. When combined with real-time knowledge of the target motion at delivery time, this technique facilitates

The prevalence of sick leave

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Backhausen, Mette; Damm, Peter; Bendix, Jane

2018-01-01

of long-term sick leave. Method Data from 508 employed pregnant women seeking antenatal care was collected by questionnaires from August 2015 to March 2016. The questionnaires, which were filled in at 20 and 32 weeks of gestation, provided information on maternal characteristics, the number of days spent...... on sick leave and the associated reasons. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were applied. Results The prevalence of sick leave was 56% of employed pregnant women in the first 32 weeks of gestation and more than one in four reported long-term sick leave (>20 days, continuous...... was a negative predictor. Conclusions The prevalence of sick leave was 56% in the first 32 weeks of gestation and more than one in four women reported long-term sick leave. The majority of reasons for sick leave were pregnancy-related and low back pain was the most frequently given reason....

Transgenic and cloned animals in the food chain--are we prepared to tackle it?

Science.gov (United States)

Jagadeesan, Premanandh; Bin Salem, Samara

2015-11-01

Transgenic and cloned animal production for various purposes has been increasing rapidly in recent times. While the actual impact of these animals in the food chain is unknown, the significance of tracking and monitoring measures to curb accidental and or deliberate release has been discussed. Religious perspectives from different faiths and traditions have been presented. Although the concept of substantial equivalence satisfies the technical and nutritional requirements of these products when assessed against comparators, public opinion and religious concerns should also be considered by the regulators while developing policy regulations. In conclusion, measures to prevent real or perceived risks of transgenic and cloned animals in food production require global coordinated action. It is worthwhile to consider establishing effective tracking systems and analytical procedures as this will be a valuable tool if a global consensus is not reached on policy regulation. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

In Darwin's Footsteps: An On and Off-Campus Approach to Teaching Evolutionary Theory and Animal Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Gillie, Lynn; Bizub, Anne L.

2012-01-01

The study of evolutionary theory and fieldwork in animal behavior is enriched when students leave the classroom so they may test their abilities to think and act like scientists. This article describes a course on evolutionary theory and animal behavior that blended on campus learning with field experience in the United States and in Ecuador and…

From sensor data to animal behaviour: an oystercatcher example.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judy Shamoun-Baranes

Full Text Available Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies, behaviour is often inferred from expert interpretation of sensor data and not validated with direct observations of the animal. The aim of this study was to derive models that could be used to classify oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus behaviour based on sensor data. We measured the location, speed, and tri-axial acceleration of three oystercatchers using a flexible GPS tracking system and conducted simultaneous visual observations of the behaviour of these birds in their natural environment. We then used these data to develop three supervised classification trees of behaviour and finally applied one of the models to calculate time-activity budgets. The model based on accelerometer data developed to classify three behaviours (fly, terrestrial locomotion, and no movement was much more accurate (cross-validation error = 0.14 than the model based on GPS-speed alone (cross-validation error = 0.35. The most parsimonious acceleration model designed to classify eight behaviours could distinguish five: fly, forage, body care, stand, and sit (cross-validation error = 0.28; other behaviours that were observed, such as aggression or handling of prey, could not be distinguished. Model limitations and potential improvements are discussed. The workflow design presented in this study can facilitate model development, be adapted to a wide range of species, and together with the appropriate measurements, can foster the study of behaviour and habitat use of free living animals throughout their annual routine.

From sensor data to animal behaviour: an oystercatcher example.

Science.gov (United States)

Shamoun-Baranes, Judy; Bom, Roeland; van Loon, E Emiel; Ens, Bruno J; Oosterbeek, Kees; Bouten, Willem

2012-01-01

Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies, behaviour is often inferred from expert interpretation of sensor data and not validated with direct observations of the animal. The aim of this study was to derive models that could be used to classify oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) behaviour based on sensor data. We measured the location, speed, and tri-axial acceleration of three oystercatchers using a flexible GPS tracking system and conducted simultaneous visual observations of the behaviour of these birds in their natural environment. We then used these data to develop three supervised classification trees of behaviour and finally applied one of the models to calculate time-activity budgets. The model based on accelerometer data developed to classify three behaviours (fly, terrestrial locomotion, and no movement) was much more accurate (cross-validation error = 0.14) than the model based on GPS-speed alone (cross-validation error = 0.35). The most parsimonious acceleration model designed to classify eight behaviours could distinguish five: fly, forage, body care, stand, and sit (cross-validation error = 0.28); other behaviours that were observed, such as aggression or handling of prey, could not be distinguished. Model limitations and potential improvements are discussed. The workflow design presented in this study can facilitate model development, be adapted to a wide range of species, and together with the appropriate measurements, can foster the study of behaviour and habitat use of free living animals throughout their annual routine.

Real Time 3D Facial Movement Tracking Using a Monocular Camera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanchao Dong

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The paper proposes a robust framework for 3D facial movement tracking in real time using a monocular camera. It is designed to estimate the 3D face pose and local facial animation such as eyelid movement and mouth movement. The framework firstly utilizes the Discriminative Shape Regression method to locate the facial feature points on the 2D image and fuses the 2D data with a 3D face model using Extended Kalman Filter to yield 3D facial movement information. An alternating optimizing strategy is adopted to fit to different persons automatically. Experiments show that the proposed framework could track the 3D facial movement across various poses and illumination conditions. Given the real face scale the framework could track the eyelid with an error of 1 mm and mouth with an error of 2 mm. The tracking result is reliable for expression analysis or mental state inference.

Tracking the Career Paths of Physics Teachers in Texas

Science.gov (United States)

Mount, Jennifer; Marshall, Jill; Fuller, Edward

2013-10-01

In Texas, and some other states, there is a documented shortage of physics teachers, in terms of both number and qualifications. The shortage in Texas is due as much to teachers leaving the field (attrition) as to a lack of teachers entering. There are efforts under way to prepare more and better-qualified physics teachers who will stay in the field longer,2 but increasing the overall supply and retention will not necessarily address localized teacher shortages. To investigate this issue, we obtained a database cataloging every teacher who taught science in Texas public schools from 2003 to 2008, indicating the school where they taught during each of those years, the subjects they taught, and their route to certification. This allowed us to track not only teachers entering and leaving the public school system, but also migration between schools within the system. We found that migration poses a much bigger problem than attrition for some schools. We also found patterns in the movement of physics teachers in Texas that we would not necessarily have predicted and that varied substantially depending on certification.

Introduction of distillate rosemary leaves into the diet of the Murciano-Granadina goat: transfer of polyphenolic compounds to goats' milk and the plasma of suckling goat kids.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordán, Maria José; Moñino, María Inmaculada; Martínez, Cristina; Lafuente, Arturo; Sotomayor, José Antonio

2010-07-28

The effect of the introduction of distilled rosemary leaves into the diet of the Murciano-Granadina goat on the polyphenolic profile of the goats' milk during the physiological stages of gestation and lactation was studied. The inclusion of rosemary leaves into the animal diet modified neither animal productivity (milk yield) nor milk quality. The following components were found in increased concentration (P goats' milk after the introduction of rosemary leaves into their diet: flavonoids hesperidin, naringin, and genkwanin; gallic acid; and phenolic diterpenes carnosol and carnosic acid. With regard to the transfer of polyphenols to the plasma of the suckling goat kid, a statistically significant increase (P goats' milk and allow for an increased concentration of polyphenolic components in the goats' milk and in the plasma of the suckling goat kid.

Tracking residual organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in green, herbal, and black tea leaves and infusions of commercially available tea products marketed in Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Witczak, Agata; Abdel-Gawad, Hassan; Zalesak, Michal; Pohoryło, Anna

2018-03-01

The content of residual organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) was examined in green, herbal, and black tea leaves as well as in their infusions prepared from tea products marketed in the main supermarkets in Poland. It was found that the detected mean levels of organochlorine residues in tea leaves ranged from tea occurred in the highest concentrations. Among dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) metabolites the highest level of p,p'DDT (1.96 ng g -1 dw) was in green tea samples. The transfer of OCPs from tea leaves to brew was investigated. The present study revealed that during the infusion process, a significant percentage of the residues, particularly pesticides with high water solubility, were transferred to the infusions. The obtained results show that the percentage transfer of each pesticides from tea to the tea infusions ranged from 6.74% (heptachlor) to 86.6% (endrin). The detected residues were below current MRLs for these pesticides.

An analysis of particle track effects on solid mammalian tissues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Todd, P.

1992-01-01

The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) and quality factor (Q) at extreme values of linear energy transfer (LET) have been determined on the basis of experiments with single-cell systems and specific tissue responses. In typical single-cell systems, each heavy particle (Ar or Fe) passes through a single cell or no cell. In experiments on animal tissues, however, each heavy particle passes through several cells, and the LET can exceed 200 keV μm -1 in every cell. In most laboratory animal tissue systems, however, only a small portion of the hit cells are capable of expressing the end-point being measured, such as cell killing, mutation or carcinogenesis. The following question was therefore addressed: do RBEs and Q factors derived from single-cell experiments properly account for the damage at high LET when multiple cells are hit by HZE tracks? A review is offered in which measured radiation effects and known tissue properties are combined to estimate on the one hand, the number of cells at risk, p 3 n, per track, where n is the number of cells per track based on tissue and organ geometry, and p 3 is the probability that a cell in the track is capable of expressing the experimental end-point. On the other hand, the tissue and single-cell responses are compared by determining the ratio RBE in tissue/RBE in corresponding single cells. Experimental data from the literature indicate that tissue RBEs at very high LET (Fe and Ar ions) are higher than corresponding single-cell RBEs, especially in tissues in which p 3 n is high. (author)

[Precautionary maternity leave in Tirol].

Science.gov (United States)

Ludescher, K; Baumgartner, E; Roner, A; Brezinka, C

1998-01-01

Under Austrian law, precautionary maternity leave is a decree issued by the district public health physician. It forbids a pregnant woman to work and mandates immediate maternity leave. Regular maternity leave for all women employed in all jobs begins at 32 weeks of gestation. Women who work in workplaces deemed dangerous and women with a history of obstetric problems such as premature or growth-retarded babies from previous pregnancies are regularly 'sent' into precautionary maternity leave. The public health physicians of Tirol's nine administrative districts were interviewed and supplied data on precautionary maternity leave from their districts. In 100 women who attended the clinic for pregnancies at risk of the Obstetrics/Gynecology Department of Innsbruck University Hospital and who had already obtained precautionary maternity leave, the medical/administrative procedure was studied in each case and correlated with pregnancy outcome. The town district of Innsbruck and the district that comprises the suburbs of the provincial capital had the highest rates of precautionary maternity leave. The town district of Innsbruck had a rate of 24.3% of all pregnant women (employed and not employed) in precautionary maternity leave in 1997, whereas the whole province of Tirol had 13.4%. More than 80% of decrees for precautionary maternity leave are issued by district public health physicians on the basis of written recommendations from gynecologists. One third of women who are sent into precautionary maternity leave are issued the decree prior to 12 weeks of gestation - mostly cases of multiple pregnancies and women with previous miscarriages. The present system of precautionary maternity leave appears to work in the sense that most working pregnant women with risk factors are correctly identified - with most errors on the side of caution. As the system also helps employers - the employee's pay is paid from the federal family support fund and state insurance once she is in

Parental leave and child health.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruhm, C J

2000-11-01

This study investigates whether rights to parental leave improve pediatric health. Aggregate data are used for 16 European countries over the 1969 through 1994 period. More generous paid leave is found to reduce deaths of infants and young children. The magnitudes of the estimated effects are substantial, especially where a causal effect of leave is most plausible. In particular, there is a much stronger negative relationship between leave durations and post-neonatal or child fatalities than for perinatal mortality, neonatal deaths, or low birth weight. The evidence further suggests that parental leave may be a cost-effective method of bettering child health.

Cotton phenotyping with lidar from a track-mounted platform

Science.gov (United States)

French, Andrew N.; Gore, Michael A.; Thompson, Alison

2016-05-01

High-Throughput Phenotyping (HTP) is a discipline for rapidly identifying plant architectural and physiological responses to environmental factors such as heat and water stress. Experiments conducted since 2010 at Maricopa, Arizona with a three-fold sensor group, including thermal infrared radiometers, active visible/near infrared reflectance sensors, and acoustic plant height sensors, have shown the validity of HTP with a tractor-based system. However, results from these experiments also show that accuracy of plant phenotyping is limited by the system's inability to discriminate plant components and their local environmental conditions. This limitation may be overcome with plant imaging and laser scanning which can help map details in plant architecture and sunlit/shaded leaves. To test the capability for mapping cotton plants with a laser system, a track-mounted platform was deployed in 2015 over a full canopy and defoliated cotton crop consisting of a scanning LIDAR driven by Arduinocontrolled stepper motors. Using custom Python and Tkinter code, the platform moved autonomously along a pipe-track at 0.1 m/s while collecting LIDAR scans at 25 Hz (0.1667 deg. beam). These tests showed that an autonomous LIDAR platform can reduce HTP logistical problems and provide the capability to accurately map cotton plants and cotton bolls. A prototype track-mounted platform was developed to test the use of LIDAR scanning for High- Throughput Phenotyping (HTP). The platform was deployed in 2015 at Maricopa, Arizona over a senescent cotton crop. Using custom Python and Tkinter code, the platform moved autonomously along a pipe-track at cotton bolls.

Leaves of Absence. School Law Summary.

Science.gov (United States)

National Education Association, Washington, DC. Research Div.

This report contains State-by-State statutory summaries on three types of leaves of absence relating to teachers -- sick leave, maternity leave, and sabbatical leave. Only State laws that have specific reference to one of these three types of leaves of absence are included. Not included are those statutes granting boards of education the general…

Bioavailability of zinc from sweet potato roots and leaves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baiden, H.N.; Ercanli-Huffman, F.G.

1986-01-01

Bioavailability of zinc from sweet potato (SP) roots and leaves were determined, by extrinsic labeling technique, in rats fed control and zinc deficient diets. Weanling male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (60-75g) were divided into 4 groups, and fed laboratory chow, a control diet (ad libitum and pair fed) and a zinc deficient diet, for 4 weeks. Each group then was divided into at least 2 sub groups, containing 6 rats, which were intubated with one of 3 tubing solutions extrinsically labeled with 65 Zn; baked sweet potato roots (BSPR), raw sweet potato leaves (RSPL) and cooked sweet potato leaves (CSPL). Five hours after intubation the rats were sacrificed, blood, liver, testes, spleen, heart, brain, thymus and lungs were removed. Feces, urine, and GI tract contents were collected and their 65 Zn activity was determined in a gamma counter. In all treatment groups zinc bioavailability from BSPR, RSPL or CSPL were not significantly different. Zinc deficient rats absorbed significantly more (P 65 Zn (86-90% of the dose), regardless of type of tubing solution than the pairfed or control animals (35-58% of the dose). The highest retention of 65 Zn was found in the liver (12-20% of absorbed dose), GI tract (6-17% of absorbed dose), kidney (2-8% of absorbed dose), and blood (1-5% of absorbed dose). The lowest retention was found in the brain, heart, thymus and testes. (< 1% of absorbed dose)

Effect of cross-correlation on track-to-track fusion

Science.gov (United States)

Saha, Rajat K.

1994-07-01

Since the advent of target tracking systems employing a diverse mixture of sensors, there has been increasing recognition by air defense system planners and other military system analysts of the need to integrate these tracks so that a clear air picture can be obtained in a command center. A popular methodology to achieve this goal is to perform track-to-track fusion, which performs track-to-track association as well as kinematic state vector fusion. This paper seeks to answer analytically the extent of improvement achievable by means of kinetic state vector fusion when the tracks are obtained from dissimilar sensors (e.g., Radar/ESM/IRST/IFF). It is well known that evaluation of the performance of state vector fusion algorithms at steady state must take into account the effects of cross-correlation between eligible tracks introduced by the input noise which, unfortunately, is often neglected because of added computational complexity. In this paper, an expression for the steady-state cross-covariance matrix for a 2D state vector track-to-track fusion is obtained. This matrix is shown to be a function of the parameters of the Kalman filters associated with the candidate tracks being fused. Conditions for positive definiteness of the cross-covariance matrix have been derived and the effect of positive definiteness on performance of track-to-track fusion is also discussed.

NucliTrack: an integrated nuclei tracking application.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Sam; Barr, Alexis R; Glen, Robert; Bakal, Chris

2017-10-15

Live imaging studies give unparalleled insight into dynamic single cell behaviours and fate decisions. However, the challenge of reliably tracking single cells over long periods of time limits both the throughput and ease with which such studies can be performed. Here, we present NucliTrack, a cross platform solution for automatically segmenting, tracking and extracting features from fluorescently labelled nuclei. NucliTrack performs similarly to other state-of-the-art cell tracking algorithms, but NucliTrack's interactive, graphical interface makes it significantly more user friendly. NucliTrack is available as a free, cross platform application and open source Python package. Installation details and documentation are at: http://nuclitrack.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ A video guide can be viewed online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6e0D9F-qSU Source code is available through Github: https://github.com/samocooper/nuclitrack. A Matlab toolbox is also available at: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/61479-samocooper-nuclitrack-matlab. sam@socooper.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Robot arm based flat panel CT-guided electromagnetic tracked spine interventions: phantom and animal model experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penzkofer, Tobias; Isfort, Peter; Bruners, Philipp; Mahnken, Andreas H.; Wiemann, Christian; Guenther, Rolf W.; Kyriakou, Yiannis; Kalender, Willi A.; Schmitz-Rode, Thomas

2010-01-01

To evaluate accuracy and procedure times of electromagnetic tracking (EMT) in a robotic arm mounted flat panel setting using phantom and animal cadaveric models. A robotic arm mounted flat panel (RMFP) was used in combination with EMT to perform anthropomorphic phantom (n = 90) and ex vivo pig based punctures (n = 120) of lumbar facet joints (FJ, n = 120) and intervertebral discs (IVD, n = 90). Procedure accuracies and times were assessed and evaluated. FJ punctures were carried out with a spatial accuracy of 0.8 ± 0.9 mm (phantom) and 0.6 ± 0.8 mm (ex vivo) respectively. While IVD punctures showed puncture deviations of 0.6 ± 1.2 mm (phantom) and 0.5 ± 0.6 mm (ex vivo), direct and angulated phantom based punctures had accuracies of 0.8 ± 0.9 mm and 1.0 ± 1.3 mm. Planning took longer for ex vivo IVD punctures compared to phantom model interventions (39.3 ± 17.3 s vs. 20.8 ± 5.0 s, p = 0.001) and for angulated vs. direct phantom FJ punctures (19.7 ± 5.1 s vs. 28.6 ± 7.8 s, p < 0.001). Puncture times were longer for ex vivo procedures when compared to phantom model procedures in both FJ (37.9 ± 9.0 s vs. 23.6 ± 7.2 s, p = 0.001) and IVD punctures (43.9 ± 16.1 s vs. 31.1 ± 6.4 s, p = 0.026). The combination of RMFP with EMT provides an accurate method of navigation for spinal interventions such as facet joint punctures and intervertebral disc punctures. (orig.)

Quality of Slab Track Construction – Track Alignment Design and Track Geometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šestáková Janka

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The slab track superstructure design (without ballast is a perspective construction especially for building tunnels and bridges in the modernized sections of railway tracks in Slovakia. Monitoring of the structure described in this article is focused on the transition areas between standard structure with ballast and slab track construction.

Evaluation of the protective effect of guava fruits and leaves on oxidative stress - doi: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v36i1.19839

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juliana Mesquita Freire

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Oxidative stress is an imbalance between reactive oxygen species and antioxidant capacity of action. Thus, research, alternative to mitigate the damaging effects of oxidative stress, improving the body´s antioxidant capacity, prevented the disease and its complicatons. The leaves and fruits of guava are rich in the antioxidants. This work aimed to study the effect of flour and ethanolic/acetone extracts leaves and fruits of guava on lipid oxidation in rats with hypercholesterolemic. The flour and extracts decreased leves of triglycerides and non – HDL cholesterol and increased in the HDL. Cholesterol levels decreased only leaves and fruits. The activity of GPx decreased in samples serum in all treatments  and the SOD only the extracts were effective. There was no difference in levels the MDA in relation hypercholesterolemic control. For the samples of liver, there was no difference in activity SOD. In relation of activity GPx, only the flour was effective. There were differences in levels the MDA of the hypercholesterolemic animals treated with flour and extracts with the animals of the hypercholesterolemic control.

Importance of tracks on habitat use characterization of Medium and Big mammals in Los Mangos Forest (Puerto Lopez, Meta, Colombia)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guzman Lenis, Angelica; Camargo Sanabria, Angela

2004-01-01

Tracks and signs are very useful for detecting medium and big mammals, which usually are out of sight. These are helpful tools on field investigation, provide detailed information on the identity and activities of an animal in a place, and can provide us indications of their habitat use (Aranda, 1981a; Navarro and Munoz, 2000; Villalba and Yanosky, 2000). In this paper we characterize the habitat use of medium and big land mammals in Los Mangos Forest. We use an observation and track tramp transect, and a modification of the Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) for evaluating habitat suitability. We detect six burrows, four footprints and five Seje palm (Oenocarpus batagua) feeding places, in addition to ten tracks compiled along the other days of field investigation. We recognized ten species of mammals, which belong to five orders, using tracks and bitted fruits. The HSI calculated was 7.30 on inner forest, indicating that the habitat is appropriate for animals, which use burrows. Resources like food (insects, fruits and preys), refuge, water and resting places converges generating favorable environment for immigration and residence of insectivore, frugivore and carnivore mammals. The fertile plane forest is an important habitat of this area because present there. It offers quality resources to the animal species in there

[A comparative study on soil fauna in native secondary evergreen broad-leaved forest and Chinese fir plantation forests in subtropics].

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Shaokui; Wang, Silong; Hu, Yalin; Gao, Hong; Zhang, Xiuyong

2004-10-01

In this study, we investigated the response of soil animal communities to the replacement of native secondary forest by Chinese fir plantation forest and successive rotation of Chinese fir in subtropics. Three adjacent forest stands, i.e., native secondary evergreen broad-leaved forest stand (control) and Chinese fir plantation stands of first (20 yr) and second (20 yr) rotations were selected for the comparison of soil fauna. All animals were extracted from the floor litter and 0-15 cm soil layer of the stands in Summer, 2003 by using Tullgren method, wet funnel method and hand-sorting method. Compared to two Chinese fir plantation forests, the native secondary evergreen broad-leaved forest had a higher abundance and a higher taxonomic diversity of animals in soil and litter, but there were no significant differences in the biomass and productivity of soil fauna between all study stands. The abundance or diversity did not differ significantly between the first rotation and second rotation stands, too. The results supported that vegetation cover might be one of the main forces driving the development of soil animal communities, and the effect of successive rotation of Chinese fir on the development of soil fauna was a slow-running process.

Wild Origins: The Evolving Nature of Animal Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Flores, Ifigenia

For billions of years, evolution has been the driving force behind the incredible range of biodiversity on our planet. Wild Origins is a concept plan for an exhibition at the National Zoo that uses case studies of animal behavior to explain the theory of evolution. Behaviors evolve, just as physical forms do. Understanding natural selection can help us interpret animal behavior and vice-versa. A living collection, digital media, interactives, fossils, and photographs will relay stories of social behavior, sex, navigation and migration, foraging, domestication, and relationships between different species. The informal learning opportunities visitors are offered at the zoo will create a connection with the exhibition's teaching points. Visitors will leave with an understanding and sense of wonder at the evolutionary view of life.

Short-Term Saved Leave Scheme

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

As announced at the meeting of the Standing Concertation Committee (SCC) on 26 June 2007 and in http://Bulletin No. 28/2007, the existing Saved Leave Scheme will be discontinued as of 31 December 2007. Staff participating in the Scheme will shortly receive a contract amendment stipulating the end of financial contributions compensated by save leave. Leave already accumulated on saved leave accounts can continue to be taken in accordance with the rules applicable to the current scheme. A new system of saved leave will enter into force on 1 January 2008 and will be the subject of a new implementation procedure entitled "Short-term saved leave scheme" dated 1 January 2008. At its meeting on 4 December 2007, the SCC agreed to recommend the Director-General to approve this procedure, which can be consulted on the HR Department’s website at the following address: https://cern.ch/hr-services/services-Ben/sls_shortterm.asp All staff wishing to participate in the new scheme a...

Short-Term Saved Leave Scheme

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2007-01-01

As announced at the meeting of the Standing Concertation Committee (SCC) on 26 June 2007 and in http://Bulletin No. 28/2007, the existing Saved Leave Scheme will be discontinued as of 31 December 2007. Staff participating in the Scheme will shortly receive a contract amendment stipulating the end of financial contributions compensated by save leave. Leave already accumulated on saved leave accounts can continue to be taken in accordance with the rules applicable to the current scheme. A new system of saved leave will enter into force on 1 January 2008 and will be the subject of a new im-plementation procedure entitled "Short-term saved leave scheme" dated 1 January 2008. At its meeting on 4 December 2007, the SCC agreed to recommend the Director-General to approve this procedure, which can be consulted on the HR Department’s website at the following address: https://cern.ch/hr-services/services-Ben/sls_shortterm.asp All staff wishing to participate in the new scheme ...

5 CFR 630.1111 - Limitation on the amount of donated annual leave received by an emergency leave recipient.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... needs of individual emergency leave recipients, an employing agency may allow an employee to receive... annual leave received by an emergency leave recipient. 630.1111 Section 630.1111 Administrative Personnel... recipient. An emergency leave recipient may receive a maximum of 240 hours of donated annual leave at any...

Tracking and Quantifying Developmental Processes in C. elegans Using Open-source Tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Priyanka; Lehmann, Christina; Odedra, Devang; Singh, Deepika; Pohl, Christian

2015-12-16

Quantitatively capturing developmental processes is crucial to derive mechanistic models and key to identify and describe mutant phenotypes. Here protocols are presented for preparing embryos and adult C. elegans animals for short- and long-term time-lapse microscopy and methods for tracking and quantification of developmental processes. The methods presented are all based on C. elegans strains available from the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center and on open-source software that can be easily implemented in any laboratory independently of the microscopy system used. A reconstruction of a 3D cell-shape model using the modelling software IMOD, manual tracking of fluorescently-labeled subcellular structures using the multi-purpose image analysis program Endrov, and an analysis of cortical contractile flow using PIVlab (Time-Resolved Digital Particle Image Velocimetry Tool for MATLAB) are shown. It is discussed how these methods can also be deployed to quantitatively capture other developmental processes in different models, e.g., cell tracking and lineage tracing, tracking of vesicle flow.

Real-time physics-based 3D biped character animation using an inverted pendulum model.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Yao-Yang; Lin, Wen-Chieh; Cheng, Kuangyou B; Lee, Jehee; Lee, Tong-Yee

2010-01-01

We present a physics-based approach to generate 3D biped character animation that can react to dynamical environments in real time. Our approach utilizes an inverted pendulum model to online adjust the desired motion trajectory from the input motion capture data. This online adjustment produces a physically plausible motion trajectory adapted to dynamic environments, which is then used as the desired motion for the motion controllers to track in dynamics simulation. Rather than using Proportional-Derivative controllers whose parameters usually cannot be easily set, our motion tracking adopts a velocity-driven method which computes joint torques based on the desired joint angular velocities. Physically correct full-body motion of the 3D character is computed in dynamics simulation using the computed torques and dynamical model of the character. Our experiments demonstrate that tracking motion capture data with real-time response animation can be achieved easily. In addition, physically plausible motion style editing, automatic motion transition, and motion adaptation to different limb sizes can also be generated without difficulty.

Detecting animal by-product intake using stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS).

Science.gov (United States)

da Silva, D A F; Biscola, N P; Dos Santos, L D; Sartori, M M P; Denadai, J C; da Silva, E T; Ducatti, C; Bicudo, S D; Barraviera, B; Ferreira, R S

2016-11-01

Sheep are used in many countries as food and for manufacturing bioproducts. However, when these animals consume animal by-products (ABP), which is widely prohibited, there is a risk of transmitting scrapie - a fatal prion disease in human beings. Therefore, it is essential to develop sensitive methods to detect previous ABP intake to select safe animals for producing biopharmaceuticals. We used stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) for 13 C and 15 N to trace animal proteins in the serum of three groups of sheep: 1 - received only vegetable protein (VP) for 89 days; 2 - received animal and vegetable protein (AVP); and 3 - received animal and vegetable protein with animal protein subsequently removed (AVPR). Groups 2 and 3 received diets with 30% bovine meat and bone meal (MBM) added to a vegetable diet (from days 16-89 in the AVP group and until day 49 in the AVPR group, when MBM was removed). The AVPR group showed 15 N equilibrium 5 days after MBM removal (54th day). Conversely, 15 N equilibrium in the AVP group occurred 22 days later (76th day). The half-life differed between these groups by 3.55 days. In the AVPR group, 15 N elimination required 53 days, which was similar to this isotope's incorporation time. Turnover was determined based on natural 15 N signatures. IRMS followed by turnover calculations was used to evaluate the time period for the incorporation and elimination of animal protein in sheep serum. The δ 13 C and δ 15 N values were used to track animal protein in the diet. This method is biologically and economically relevant for the veterinary field because it can track protein over time or make a point assessment of animal feed with high sensitivity and resolution, providing a low-cost analysis coupled with fast detection. Isotopic profiles could be measured throughout the experimental period, demonstrating the potential to use the method for traceability and certification assessments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A New Laboratory Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System for Behavioural Tracking of Marine Organisms

Science.gov (United States)

Aguzzi, Jacopo; Sbragaglia, Valerio; Sarriá, David; García, José Antonio; Costa, Corrado; del Río, Joaquín; Mànuel, Antoni; Menesatti, Paolo; Sardà, Francesc

2011-01-01

Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices are currently used to quantify several traits of animal behaviour with potential applications for the study of marine organisms. To date, behavioural studies with marine organisms are rare because of the technical difficulty of propagating radio waves within the saltwater medium. We present a novel RFID tracking system to study the burrowing behaviour of a valuable fishery resource, the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.). The system consists of a network of six controllers, each handling a group of seven antennas. That network was placed below a microcosm tank that recreated important features typical of Nephrops’ grounds, such as the presence of multiple burrows. The animals carried a passive transponder attached to their telson, operating at 13.56 MHz. The tracking system was implemented to concurrently report the behaviour of up to three individuals, in terms of their travelled distances in a specified unit of time and their preferential positioning within the antenna network. To do so, the controllers worked in parallel to send the antenna data to a computer via a USB connection. The tracking accuracy of the system was evaluated by concurrently recording the animals’ behaviour with automated video imaging. During the two experiments, each lasting approximately one week, two different groups of three animals each showed a variable burrow occupancy and a nocturnal displacement under a standard photoperiod regime (12 h light:12 h dark), measured using the RFID method. Similar results were obtained with the video imaging. Our implemented RFID system was therefore capable of efficiently tracking the tested organisms and has a good potential for use on a wide variety of other marine organisms of commercial, aquaculture, and ecological interest. PMID:22163710

A New Laboratory Radio Frequency Identification (RFID System for Behavioural Tracking of Marine Organisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesc Sardà

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Radio frequency identification (RFID devices are currently used to quantify several traits of animal behaviour with potential applications for the study of marine organisms. To date, behavioural studies with marine organisms are rare because of the technical difficulty of propagating radio waves within the saltwater medium. We present a novel RFID tracking system to study the burrowing behaviour of a valuable fishery resource, the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.. The system consists of a network of six controllers, each handling a group of seven antennas. That network was placed below a microcosm tank that recreated important features typical of Nephrops’ grounds, such as the presence of multiple burrows. The animals carried a passive transponder attached to their telson, operating at 13.56 MHz. The tracking system was implemented to concurrently report the behaviour of up to three individuals, in terms of their travelled distances in a specified unit of time and their preferential positioning within the antenna network. To do so, the controllers worked in parallel to send the antenna data to a computer via a USB connection. The tracking accuracy of the system was evaluated by concurrently recording the animals’ behaviour with automated video imaging. During the two experiments, each lasting approximately one week, two different groups of three animals each showed a variable burrow occupancy and a nocturnal displacement under a standard photoperiod regime (12 h light:12 h dark, measured using the RFID method. Similar results were obtained with the video imaging. Our implemented RFID system was therefore capable of efficiently tracking the tested organisms and has a good potential for use on a wide variety of other marine organisms of commercial, aquaculture, and ecological interest.

In vitro and in vivo antitrypanosomal activity of Xanthium strumarium leaves.

Science.gov (United States)

Talakal, T S; Dwivedi, S K; Sharma, S R

1995-12-15

Antitrypanosomal activity of crude 50% ethanolic extract of Xanthium strumarium leaves was studied in vitro and in vivo. The extract exhibited trypanocidal activity at all four concentrations tested i.e. 5, 50, 500 and 1000 micrograms/ml, in vitro. In vivo trial revealed that the extract exerted antitrypanosomal effect at dosage of 100, 300 and 1000 mg/kg, intraperitoneally. At 100 and 300 mg/kg doses the survival period of the Trypanosoma evansi infected mice was significantly prolonged. However, the extract was found to be toxic to the animals at 1000 mg/kg dose.

Comparing radio-tracking and visual detection methods to quantify group size measures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reiczigel Jenő

2015-12-01

Full Text Available 1. Average values of animal group sizes are prone to be overestimated in traditional field studies because small groups and singletons are easier to overlook than large ones. This kind of bias also applies for the method of locating groups by tracking previously radio-collared individuals in the wild. If the researcher randomly chooses a collared animal to locate a group to visit, a large group has higher probability to be selected than a small one, simply because it has more members.

Nanoscale measurements of proton tracks using fluorescent nuclear track detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sawakuchi, Gabriel O., E-mail: gsawakuchi@mdanderson.org; Sahoo, Narayan [Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030 and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States); Ferreira, Felisberto A. [Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Sao Paulo, SP 05508-090 (Brazil); McFadden, Conor H. [Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States); Hallacy, Timothy M. [Biophysics Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States); Granville, Dal A. [Department of Medical Physics, The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6 (Canada); Akselrod, Mark S. [Crystal Growth Division, Landauer, Inc., Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074 (United States)

2016-05-15

Purpose: The authors describe a method in which fluorescence nuclear track detectors (FNTDs), novel track detectors with nanoscale spatial resolution, are used to determine the linear energy transfer (LET) of individual proton tracks from proton therapy beams by allowing visualization and 3D reconstruction of such tracks. Methods: FNTDs were exposed to proton therapy beams with nominal energies ranging from 100 to 250 MeV. Proton track images were then recorded by confocal microscopy of the FNTDs. Proton tracks in the FNTD images were fit by using a Gaussian function to extract fluorescence amplitudes. Histograms of fluorescence amplitudes were then compared with LET spectra. Results: The authors successfully used FNTDs to register individual proton tracks from high-energy proton therapy beams, allowing reconstruction of 3D images of proton tracks along with delta rays. The track amplitudes from FNTDs could be used to parameterize LET spectra, allowing the LET of individual proton tracks from therapeutic proton beams to be determined. Conclusions: FNTDs can be used to directly visualize proton tracks and their delta rays at the nanoscale level. Because the track intensities in the FNTDs correlate with LET, they could be used further to measure LET of individual proton tracks. This method may be useful for measuring nanoscale radiation quantities and for measuring the LET of individual proton tracks in radiation biology experiments.

Animals as Mobile Biological Sensors for Forest Fire Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasar Guneri Sahin

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a mobile biological sensor system that can assist in earlydetection of forest fires one of the most dreaded natural disasters on the earth. The main ideapresented in this paper is to utilize animals with sensors as Mobile Biological Sensors(MBS. The devices used in this system are animals which are native animals living inforests, sensors (thermo and radiation sensors with GPS features that measure thetemperature and transmit the location of the MBS, access points for wireless communicationand a central computer system which classifies of animal actions. The system offers twodifferent methods, firstly: access points continuously receive data about animals’ locationusing GPS at certain time intervals and the gathered data is then classified and checked tosee if there is a sudden movement (panic of the animal groups: this method is called animalbehavior classification (ABC. The second method can be defined as thermal detection(TD: the access points get the temperature values from the MBS devices and send the datato a central computer to check for instant changes in the temperatures. This system may beused for many purposes other than fire detection, namely animal tracking, poachingprevention and detecting instantaneous animal death.

Paid Maternity Leave and Breastfeeding Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirkovic, Kelsey R; Perrine, Cria G; Scanlon, Kelley S

2016-09-01

Despite the benefits of breastfeeding, rates in the United States are low. Shorter maternity leave is associated with lower initiation and shorter durations of breastfeeding; however, little is known about how paid maternity leave may influence breastfeeding rates. We used data from the 2006-2010 U.S. National Survey of Family Growth on the most recent birth to employed women who delivered a child within the previous 5 years. Separate multivariable logistic regression models were used to describe the associations between paid leave duration (0, 1-5, 6-11, ≥ 12 weeks, maternity leave not taken) and three outcomes: 1) breastfeeding initiation, 2) 6-month duration, and 3) 6-month duration among initiators. Twenty-eight percent of prenatally employed women received no paid leave. Women who received 12 or more weeks of paid leave were more likely to initiate breastfeeding compared to women with no paid leave (87.3% vs 66.7%, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.83 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.23-6.48]). Similarly, women with 12 or more weeks of paid leave were more likely to breastfeed at 6 months, compared to women with no paid leave (24.9% vs 50.1%, aOR 2.26 [95% CI 1.20-4.26]). Among women who initiated breastfeeding, having received 12 or more weeks' paid leave increased the odds of breastfeeding for 6 or more months; however, the association was not statistically significant in the adjusted model (aOR 1.81 [95% CI 0.93-3.52]). Employed women who received 12 or more weeks of paid maternity leave were more likely to initiate breastfeeding and be breastfeeding their child at 6 months than those without paid leave. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Goodbye, Mandatory Maternity Leaves

Science.gov (United States)

Nation's Schools, 1972

1972-01-01

In precedent-setting decrees, courts and federal and State authorities have branded compulsory maternity leaves either unconstitutional or illegal. School administrators are urged to prod boards of education to adopt more lenient maternity leave policies -- now. (Author)

Linking animals aloft with the terrestrial landscape

Science.gov (United States)

Buler, Jeffrey J.; Barrow, Wylie; Boone, Matthew; Dawson, Deanna K.; Diehl, Robert H.; Moore, Frank R.; Randall, Lori A.; Schreckengost, Timothy; Smolinsky, Jaclyn A.

2018-01-01

Despite using the aerosphere for many facets of their life, most flying animals (i.e., birds, bats, some insects) are still bound to terrestrial habitats for resting, feeding, and reproduction. Comprehensive broad-scale observations by weather surveillance radars of animals as they leave terrestrial habitats for migration or feeding flights can be used to map their terrestrial distributions either as point locations (e.g., communal roosts) or as continuous surface layers (e.g., animal densities in habitats across a landscape). We discuss some of the technical challenges to reducing measurement biases related to how radars sample the aerosphere and the flight behavior of animals. We highlight a recently developed methodological approach that precisely and quantitatively links the horizontal spatial structure of birds aloft to their terrestrial distributions and provides novel insights into avian ecology and conservation across broad landscapes. Specifically, we present case studies that (1) elucidate how migrating birds contend with crossing ecological barriers and extreme weather events, (2) identify important stopover areas and habitat use patterns of birds along their migration routes, and (3) assess waterfowl response to wetland habitat management and restoration. These studies aid our understanding of how anthropogenic modification of the terrestrial landscape (e.g., urbanization, habitat management), natural geographic features, and weather (e.g., hurricanes) can affect the terrestrial distributions of flying animals.

Jatropha curcas leaves analysis, reveals it as mineral source for low sodium diets.

Science.gov (United States)

Méndez, Lucero; Rojas, Janne; Izaguirre, César; Contreras, Billmary; Gómez, Rubén

2014-12-15

Jatropha curcas is a perennial herb, belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, found in countries such as India, Mexico and Venezuela. In the present study, proximate composition and mineral content on the leaves of J. curcas was analysed and compared to spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) using a ICP-AES. The bromatologic test (dry material) results for ashes, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates revealed 23.4%, 28.0%, 3.2% and 45.4% for J. curcas; whereas for S. oleracea values were 28.9%, 20.8%, 0.5% and 49.9%. Furthermore, minerals found in both species ashes were: calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus, resulting that leaves of J. curcas are composed by three times the iron and calcium amount comparing to spinach; while sodium was absent from the former species. In this study Cu and Zn were found only in spinach, while Pb and As were not detected in any of the studied species. These results indicate that J. curcas leaves might be considered as mineral source suitable for animal and human consumption, especially for people who requires a low sodium diet. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The dosimetric impact of inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plan modulation for real-time dynamic MLC tracking delivery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Falk, Marianne; Larsson, Tobias; Keall, Paul; Chul Cho, Byung; Aznar, Marianne; Korreman, Stine; Poulsen, Per; Munck af Rosenschoeld, Per

2012-01-01

Purpose: Real-time dynamic multileaf collimator (MLC) tracking for management of intrafraction tumor motion can be challenging for highly modulated beams, as the leaves need to travel far to adjust for target motion perpendicular to the leaf travel direction. The plan modulation can be reduced by using a leaf position constraint (LPC) that reduces the difference in the position of adjacent MLC leaves in the plan. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the LPC on the quality of inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plans and the effect of the MLC motion pattern on the dosimetric accuracy of MLC tracking delivery. Specifically, the possibility of predicting the accuracy of MLC tracking delivery based on the plan modulation was investigated. Methods: Inversely optimized arc radiotherapy plans were created on CT-data of three lung cancer patients. For each case, five plans with a single 358 deg. arc were generated with LPC priorities of 0 (no LPC), 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 (highest possible LPC), respectively. All the plans had a prescribed dose of 2 Gy x 30, used 6 MV, a maximum dose rate of 600 MU/min and a collimator angle of 45 deg. or 315 deg. To quantify the plan modulation, an average adjacent leaf distance (ALD) was calculated by averaging the mean adjacent leaf distance for each control point. The linear relationship between the plan quality [i.e., the calculated dose distributions and the number of monitor units (MU)] and the LPC was investigated, and the linear regression coefficient as well as a two tailed confidence level of 95% was used in the evaluation. The effect of the plan modulation on the performance of MLC tracking was tested by delivering the plans to a cylindrical diode array phantom moving with sinusoidal motion in the superior-inferior direction with a peak-to-peak displacement of 2 cm and a cycle time of 6 s. The delivery was adjusted to the target motion using MLC tracking, guided in real-time by an infrared optical system

Tracking errors in a prototype real-time tumour tracking system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharp, Gregory C; Jiang, Steve B; Shimizu, Shinichi; Shirato, Hiroki

2004-01-01

In motion-compensated radiation therapy, radio-opaque markers can be implanted in or near a tumour and tracked in real-time using fluoroscopic imaging. Tracking these implanted markers gives highly accurate position information, except when tracking fails due to poor or ambiguous imaging conditions. This study investigates methods for automatic detection of tracking errors, and assesses the frequency and impact of tracking errors on treatments using the prototype real-time tumour tracking system. We investigated four indicators for automatic detection of tracking errors, and found that the distance between corresponding rays was most effective. We also found that tracking errors cause a loss of gating efficiency of between 7.6 and 10.2%. The incidence of treatment beam delivery during tracking errors was estimated at between 0.8% and 1.25%

Solar Flare Track Exposure Ages in Regolith Particles: A Calibration for Transmission Electron Microscope Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Eve L.; Keller, Lindsay P.

2015-01-01

Mineral grains in lunar and asteroidal regolith samples provide a unique record of their interaction with the space environment. Space weathering effects result from multiple processes including: exposure to the solar wind, which results in ion damage and implantation effects that are preserved in the rims of grains (typically the outermost 100 nm); cosmic ray and solar flare activity, which result in track formation; and impact processes that result in the accumulation of vapor-deposited elements, impact melts and adhering grains on particle surfaces. Determining the rate at which these effects accumulate in the grains during their space exposure is critical to studies of the surface evolution of airless bodies. Solar flare energetic particles (mainly Fe-group nuclei) have a penetration depth of a few millimeters and leave a trail of ionization damage in insulating materials that is readily observable by transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging. The density of solar flare particle tracks is used to infer the length of time an object was at or near the regolith surface (i.e., its exposure age). Track measurements by TEM methods are routine, yet track production rate calibrations have only been determined using chemical etching techniques [e.g., 1, and references therein]. We used focused ion beam-scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) sample preparation techniques combined with TEM imaging to determine the track density/exposure age relations for lunar rock 64455. The 64455 sample was used earlier by [2] to determine a track production rate by chemical etching of tracks in anorthite. Here, we show that combined FIB/TEM techniques provide a more accurate determination of a track production rate and also allow us to extend the calibration to solar flare tracks in olivine.

A parsimonious approach to modeling animal movement data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yann Tremblay

Full Text Available Animal tracking is a growing field in ecology and previous work has shown that simple speed filtering of tracking data is not sufficient and that improvement of tracking location estimates are possible. To date, this has required methods that are complicated and often time-consuming (state-space models, resulting in limited application of this technique and the potential for analysis errors due to poor understanding of the fundamental framework behind the approach. We describe and test an alternative and intuitive approach consisting of bootstrapping random walks biased by forward particles. The model uses recorded data accuracy estimates, and can assimilate other sources of data such as sea-surface temperature, bathymetry and/or physical boundaries. We tested our model using ARGOS and geolocation tracks of elephant seals that also carried GPS tags in addition to PTTs, enabling true validation. Among pinnipeds, elephant seals are extreme divers that spend little time at the surface, which considerably impact the quality of both ARGOS and light-based geolocation tracks. Despite such low overall quality tracks, our model provided location estimates within 4.0, 5.5 and 12.0 km of true location 50% of the time, and within 9, 10.5 and 20.0 km 90% of the time, for above, equal or below average elephant seal ARGOS track qualities, respectively. With geolocation data, 50% of errors were less than 104.8 km (<0.94 degrees, and 90% were less than 199.8 km (<1.80 degrees. Larger errors were due to lack of sea-surface temperature gradients. In addition we show that our model is flexible enough to solve the obstacle avoidance problem by assimilating high resolution coastline data. This reduced the number of invalid on-land location by almost an order of magnitude. The method is intuitive, flexible and efficient, promising extensive utilization in future research.

Sick Leave and Factors Influencing Sick Leave in Adult Patients with Atopic Dermatitis: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

van Os-Medendorp, Harmieke; Appelman-Noordermeer, Simone; Bruijnzeel-Koomen, Carla; de Bruin-Weller, Marjolein

2015-03-27

Little is known about the prevalence of sick leave due to atopic dermatitis (AD). The current literature on factors influencing sick leave is mostly derived from other chronic inflammatory diseases. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sick leave due to AD and to identify influencing factors. A cross-sectional study was carried out in adult patients with AD. sick leave during the two-week and one-year periods, socio-demographic characteristics, disease severity, quality of life and socio-occupational factors. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine influencing factors on sick leave over the two-week period. In total, 253 patients were included; 12% of the patients had to take sick leave in the last two weeks due to AD and 42% in the past year. A higher level of symptom interference (OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.13-1.40) or perfectionism/diligence (OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.83-0.96) may respectively increase or decrease the number of sick leave days. Sick leave in patients with AD is a common problem and symptom interference and perfectionism/diligence appeared to influence it. Novel approaches are needed to deal with symptoms at work or school to reduce the amount of sick leave due to AD.

Robot arm based flat panel CT-guided electromagnetic tracked spine interventions: phantom and animal model experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Penzkofer, Tobias; Isfort, Peter; Bruners, Philipp; Wiemann, Christian; Kyriakou, Yiannis; Kalender, Willi A; Günther, Rolf W; Schmitz-Rode, Thomas; Mahnken, Andreas H

2010-11-01

To evaluate accuracy and procedure times of electromagnetic tracking (EMT) in a robotic arm mounted flat panel setting using phantom and animal cadaveric models. A robotic arm mounted flat panel (RMFP) was used in combination with EMT to perform anthropomorphic phantom (n = 90) and ex vivo pig based punctures (n = 120) of lumbar facet joints (FJ, n = 120) and intervertebral discs (IVD, n = 90). Procedure accuracies and times were assessed and evaluated. FJ punctures were carried out with a spatial accuracy of 0.8 ± 0.9 mm (phantom) and 0.6 ± 0.8 mm (ex vivo) respectively. While IVD punctures showed puncture deviations of 0.6 ± 1.2 mm (phantom) and 0.5 ± 0.6 mm (ex vivo), direct and angulated phantom based punctures had accuracies of 0.8 ± 0.9 mm and 1.0 ± 1.3 mm. Planning took longer for ex vivo IVD punctures compared to phantom model interventions (39.3 ± 17.3 s vs. 20.8 ± 5.0 s, p = 0.001) and for angulated vs. direct phantom FJ punctures (19.7 ± 5.1 s vs. 28.6 ± 7.8 s, p < 0.001). Puncture times were longer for ex vivo procedures when compared to phantom model procedures in both FJ (37.9 ± 9.0 s vs. 23.6 ± 7.2 s, p = 0.001) and IVD punctures (43.9 ± 16.1 s vs. 31.1 ± 6.4 s, p = 0.026). The combination of RMFP with EMT provides an accurate method of navigation for spinal interventions such as facet joint punctures and intervertebral disc punctures.

Th biodistribution in internal contamination of animals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciubotariu, M.; Danis, A.; Dumitrescu, G.; Cucu, M.

1999-01-01

Fissionable elements (U,Th) internal contamination have been studied using the fission track method as analysis method of the U and/or Th contaminant elements and Wistar-London breed rats as experiment animals. Different ways to obtain internal contaminations have been investigated: ingestion, inhalation, absorption by skin and through wounds. After the U internal contamination study was carried out, in this stage the Th internal contamination by ingestion is in progress. Using the identical aliquot parts of a solution calibrated in Th, corresponding to an Annual Limit Intake, three Wistar-London breed rats were contaminated. They were kept in normal life conditions and under permanent medical surveillance up to their sacrification. The animals were sacrificed at different time intervals after their contamination: 2 days, 7 days and 14 days, respectively. After the sacrification, their vital organs were sampled, weighed, calcined, re-weighed and finally analysed by track detection using the fission track micro-mappings technique. Also, their evacuations were sampled every 24 hours weighed, calcined and analysed in the same way as the vital organs. The Th fission track micro-mappings technique was used in the following conditions: - mica-muscovite as track detector pre-etched for fossil tracks 18 h in HF-40 per cent at room temperature; - the neutron irradiations were performed in the nuclear reactor VVR-S Bucharest at the neutron fluences of 3.10 15 - 2.10 16 fast neutrons/c m 2 ; - the visualization of the Th induced fission tracks were obtained by chemical etching in HF-40 per cent, 3 h at room temperature; - the Th track micro-mappings obtained in track detectors were studied by optical microscopy using a stereo microscope WILD M7S for ensemble study (X6-X31) and a binocular ZEISS JENA microscope for qualitative and quantitative studies (X150). The biological reference materials calibrated in Th were prepared in our laboratory using the calcined organs and the

Virtual reality and 3D animation in forensic visualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Minhua; Zheng, Huiru; Lallie, Harjinder

2010-09-01

Computer-generated three-dimensional (3D) animation is an ideal media to accurately visualize crime or accident scenes to the viewers and in the courtrooms. Based upon factual data, forensic animations can reproduce the scene and demonstrate the activity at various points in time. The use of computer animation techniques to reconstruct crime scenes is beginning to replace the traditional illustrations, photographs, and verbal descriptions, and is becoming popular in today's forensics. This article integrates work in the areas of 3D graphics, computer vision, motion tracking, natural language processing, and forensic computing, to investigate the state-of-the-art in forensic visualization. It identifies and reviews areas where new applications of 3D digital technologies and artificial intelligence could be used to enhance particular phases of forensic visualization to create 3D models and animations automatically and quickly. Having discussed the relationships between major crime types and level-of-detail in corresponding forensic animations, we recognized that high level-of-detail animation involving human characters, which is appropriate for many major crime types but has had limited use in courtrooms, could be useful for crime investigation. © 2010 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF MORINGA PEREGRINA LEAVES EXTRACT ON ACETAMINOPHEN -INDUCED LIVER TOXICITY IN ALBINO RATS.

Science.gov (United States)

Azim, Samy Abdelfatah Abdel; Abdelrahem, Mohamed Taha; Said, Mostafa Mohamed; Khattab, Alshaimaa

2017-01-01

Acetaminophen is a common antipyretic drug but at overdose can cause severe hepatotoxicity that may further develop into liver failure and hepatic centrilobular necrosis in experimental animals and humans. This study was undertaken to assess the ameliorative role of Moringa peregrina leaves extract against acetaminophen toxicity in rats. Induction of hepatotoxicity was done by chronic oral administration of acetaminophen (750 mg/kg bwt) for 4 weeks. To study the possible hepatoprotective effect, Moringa peregrina leaves extract (200 mg/kg bwt) or Silymarin (50 mg/kg bwt) was administered orally, for 4 weeks, along with acetaminophen. acetaminophen significantly increased serum liver enzymes and caused oxidative stress, evidenced by significantly increased tissue malondialdehyde, glutathione peroxidase, hepatic DNA fragmentation, and significant decrease of glutathione and antioxidant enzymes in liver, blood and brain. On the other hand, administration of Moringa peregrina leaves extract reversed acetaminophen-related toxic effects through: powerful malondialdehyde suppression, glutathione peroxidase normalization and stimulation of the cellular antioxidants synthesis represented by significant increase of glutathione, catalase and superoxide dismutase in liver, blood and brain, besides, DNA fragmentation was significantly decreased in the liver tissue. acetaminophen induced oxidative damage can be improved by Moringa peregrina leaves extract-treatment, due to its antioxidant potential.

Large angle tracking and high discriminating tracking in nuclear emulsion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuo, Tomokazu; Shibuya, Hiroshi; Ogawa, Satoru; Fukuda, Tsutomu; Mikado, Shoji

2015-01-01

Nuclear emulsion is a high resolution and re-analyzable detector. Conventional “Track Selector” which have angle acceptance |tan θ|<0.6 are widely used to find tracks in emulsion. We made a new track selector “Fine Track Selector” (FTS) which has large angle acceptance and high discriminating ability. The FTS reduces fake tracks using new algorithms, navigation etc. FTS also keeps finding efficiency of tracks around 90% in an angle range of |tan θ| < 3.5. FTS was applied to the τ candidate in OPERA and no additional tracks found. FTS will be useful to our new J-PARC emulsion experiment.

Pyrosequencing detects human and animal pathogenic taxa in the grapevine endosphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Yousaf, Sohail; Bulgari, Daniela; Bergna, Alessandro; Pancher, Michael; Quaglino, Fabio; Casati, Paola; Campisano, Andrea

2014-01-01

Generally, plants are not considered as hosts for human and animal pathogens (HAP). The recent produce-associated outbreaks of food-borne diseases have drawn attention toward significant deficiencies in our understanding of the ecology of HAP, and their potential for interkingdom transfer. To examine the association of microorganisms classified as HAP with plants, we surveyed the presence and distribution of HAP bacterial taxa (henceforth HAPT, for brevity's sake) in the endosphere of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) both in the plant stems and leaves. An enrichment protocol was used on leaves to detect taxa with very low abundance in undisturbed tissues. We used pyrosequencing and phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rDNA gene. We identified several HAPT, and focused on four genera (Propionibacterium, Staphylococcus, Clostridium, and Burkholderia). The majority of the bacterial sequences in the genus Propionibacterium, from grapevine leaf and stem, were identified as P. acnes. Clostridia were detected in leaves and stems, but their number was much higher in leaves after enrichment. HAPT were indentified both in leaves and wood of grapevines. This depicts the ability of these taxa to be internalized within plant tissues and maintain their population levels in a variety of environments. Our analysis highlighted the presence of HAPT in the grapevine endosphere and unexpected occurrence of these bacterial taxa in this atypical environment.

The Ocean Tracking Network and its contribution to ocean biological observation

Science.gov (United States)

Whoriskey, F. G.

2016-02-01

Animals move to meet their needs for food, shelter, reproduction and to avoid unfavorable environments. In aquatic systems, it is essential that we understand these movements if we are to sustainably manage populations and maintain healthy ecosystems. Thus the ability to document and monitor changes in aquatic animal movements is a biological observing system need. The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) is a global research, technology development, and data management platform headquartered at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia working to fill this need. OTN uses electronic telemetry to document the local-to-global movements and survival of aquatic animals, and to correlate them to oceanographic or limnological variables that are influencing movements. Such knowledge can assist with planning for and managing of anthropogenic impacts on present and future animal distributions, including those due to climate change. OTN works with various tracking methods including satellite and data storage tag systems, but its dominant focus is acoustic telemetry. OTN is built on global partnerships for the sharing of equipment and data, and has stimulated technological development in telemetry by bringing researchers with needs for new capabilities together with manufacturers to generate, test, and operationalize new technologies. This has included pioneering work into the use of marine autonomous vehicles (Slocum electric gliders; Liquid Robotics Wave Glider) in animal telemetry research. Similarly, OTN scientists worked with the Sea Mammal Research Unit to develop mobile acoustic receiver that have been placed on grey seals and linked via Bluetooth to a satellite transmitter/receiver. This provided receiver coverage in areas occupied by the seals during their typically extensive migrations and allowed for the examination of ecosystem linkages by documenting behavioral interactions the seals had with the physical environment, conspecifics, and other tagged species.

RECRUITMENT FINANCED BY SAVED LEAVE (RSL PROGRAMME)

CERN Multimedia

Division du Personnel; Tel. 73903

1999-01-01

Transfer to the saved leave account and saved leave bonusStaff members participating in the RSL programme may opt to transfer up to 10 days of unused annual leave or unused compensatory leave into their saved leave account, at the end of the leave year, i.e. 30 September (as set out in the implementation procedure dated 27 August 1997).A leave transfer request form, which you should complete, sign and return, if you wish to use this possibility, has been addressed you. To allow the necessary time for the processing of your request, you should return it without delay.As foreseen in the implementation procedure, an additional day of saved leave will be granted for each full period of 20 days remaining in the saved leave account on 31 December 1999, for any staff member participating in the RSL programme until that date.For part-time staff members participating in the RSL programme, the above-mentioned days of leave (annual, compensatory and saved) are adjusted proportionally to their contractual working week as...

Influence of tracks densities in solid state nuclear track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guedes O, S.; Hadler N.; Lunes, P.; Saenz T, C.

1996-01-01

When Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD) is employed to measure nuclear tracks produced mainly by fission fragments and alpha particles, it is considered that the tracks observation work is performed under an efficiency, ε 0 , which is independent of the track density (number of tracks/area unit). There are not published results or experimental data supporting such an assumption. In this work the dependence of ε 0 with track density is studied basing on experimental data. To perform this, pieces of CR-39 cut from a sole 'mother sheet' were coupled to thin uranium films for different exposition times and the resulting ratios between track density and exposition time were compared. Our results indicate that ε 0 is constant for track densities between 10 3 and 10 5 cm -2 . At our etching conditions track overlapping makes impossible the counting for densities around 1.7 x 10 5 cm -2 . For track densities less than 10 3 cm -2 , ε 0 , was not observed to be constant. (authors). 4 refs., 2 figs

Stem cell tracking using iron oxide nanoparticles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bull E

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Elizabeth Bull,1 Seyed Yazdan Madani,1 Roosey Sheth,1 Amelia Seifalian,1 Mark Green,2 Alexander M Seifalian1,31UCL Centre for Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, 2Department of Physics, King’s College London, Strand Campus, London, UK; 3Royal Free London National Health Service Foundation Trust Hospital, London, UKAbstract: Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs are an exciting advancement in the field of nanotechnology. They expand the possibilities of noninvasive analysis and have many useful properties, making them potential candidates for numerous novel applications. Notably, they have been shown that they can be tracked by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and are capable of conjugation with various cell types, including stem cells. In-depth research has been undertaken to establish these benefits, so that a deeper level of understanding of stem cell migratory pathways and differentiation, tumor migration, and improved drug delivery can be achieved. Stem cells have the ability to treat and cure many debilitating diseases with limited side effects, but a main problem that arises is in the noninvasive tracking and analysis of these stem cells. Recently, researchers have acknowledged the use of SPIONs for this purpose and have set out to establish suitable protocols for coating and attachment, so as to bring MRI tracking of SPION-labeled stem cells into common practice. This review paper explains the manner in which SPIONs are produced, conjugated, and tracked using MRI, as well as a discussion on their limitations. A concise summary of recently researched magnetic particle coatings is provided, and the effects of SPIONs on stem cells are evaluated, while animal and human studies investigating the role of SPIONs in stem cell tracking will be explored.Keywords: stem cells, nanoparticle, magnetic

Effect of feeding tannin degrading bacterial culture (Streptococcus gallolyticus strain TDGB 406) on nutrient utilization, urinary purine derivatives and growth performance of goats fed on Quercus semicarpifolia leaves.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, K; Chaudhary, L C; Agarwal, N; Kamra, D N

2014-10-01

To study the effect of supplementation of tannin degrading bacterial culture (Streptococcus gallolyticus strain TDGB 406) on growth performance, nutrient utilization and urinary purine derivatives of goats fed on oak (Quercus semicarpifolia) leaves. For growth study, eighteen billy goats (4 month old, average body weight 9.50 ± 1.50 kg) were distributed into three groups of six animals each. The animals of group 1 served as control while animals of groups 2 (T1) and 3 (T2) were given (@ 5 ml/kg live weight) autoclaved and live culture of isolate TDGB 406 (10(6) cells/ml) respectively. The animals were fed measured quantity of dry oak leaves as the main roughage source and ad libitum maize hay along with fixed quantity of concentrate mixture. The feeding of live culture of isolate TDGB 406 (probiotic) did not affect dry matter intake and digestibility of nutrients except that of dry matter and crude protein, which was higher in T2 group as compared to control. All the animals were in positive nitrogen balance. There was no significant effect of feeding isolate TDGB 406 on urinary purine derivatives (microbial protein production) in goats. The body weight gain and average live weight gain was significantly higher (p = 0.071) in T2 group as compared to control. Feed conversion efficiency was also better in the goats fed on live culture of TDGB 406 (T2). The feeding of tannin degrading bacterial isolate TDGB 406 as probiotic resulted in improved growth performance and feed conversion ratio in goats fed on oak leaves as one of the main roughage source. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

The relationship between fission track length and track density in apatite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laslett, G.M.; Gleadow, A.J.W.; Duddy, I.R.

1984-01-01

Fission track dating is based upon an age equation derived from a random line segment model for fission tracks. This equation contains the implicit assumption of a proportional relationship between the true mean length of fission tracks and their track density in an isotropic medium. Previous experimental investigation of this relationship for both spontaneous and induced tracks in apatite during progressive annealment model in an obvious fashion. Corrected equations relating track length and density for apatite, an anisotropic mineral, show that the proportionality in this case is between track density and a length factor which is a generalization of the mean track length combining the actual length and crystallographic orientation of the track. This relationship has been experimentally confirmed for induced tracks in Durango apatite, taking into account bias in sampling of the track lengths, and the effect of the bulk etching velocity. (author)

Fluorescent nanodiamonds enable quantitative tracking of human mesenchymal stem cells in miniature pigs

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Long-Jyun; Wu, Meng-Shiue; Hui, Yuen Yung; Chang, Be-Ming; Pan, Lei; Hsu, Pei-Chen; Chen, Yit-Tsong; Ho, Hong-Nerng; Huang, Yen-Hua; Ling, Thai-Yen; Hsu, Hsao-Hsun; Chang, Huan-Cheng

2017-03-01

Cell therapy is a promising strategy for the treatment of human diseases. While the first use of cells for therapeutic purposes can be traced to the 19th century, there has been a lack of general and reliable methods to study the biodistribution and associated pharmacokinetics of transplanted cells in various animal models for preclinical evaluation. Here, we present a new platform using albumin-conjugated fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) as biocompatible and photostable labels for quantitative tracking of human placenta choriodecidual membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells (pcMSCs) in miniature pigs by magnetic modulation. With this background-free detection technique and time-gated fluorescence imaging, we have been able to precisely determine the numbers as well as positions of the transplanted FND-labeled pcMSCs in organs and tissues of the miniature pigs after intravenous administration. The method is applicable to single-cell imaging and quantitative tracking of human stem/progenitor cells in rodents and other animal models as well.

Sick Leave and Factors Influencing Sick Leave in Adult Patients with Atopic Dermatitis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harmieke van Os-Medendorp

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Little is known about the prevalence of sick leave due to atopic dermatitis (AD. The current literature on factors influencing sick leave is mostly derived from other chronic inflammatory diseases. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sick leave due to AD and to identify influencing factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in adult patients with AD. Outcome measures: sick leave during the two-week and one-year periods, socio-demographic characteristics, disease severity, quality of life and socio-occupational factors. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine influencing factors on sick leave over the two-week period. Results: In total, 253 patients were included; 12% of the patients had to take sick leave in the last two weeks due to AD and 42% in the past year. A higher level of symptom interference (OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.13–1.40 or perfectionism/diligence (OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.83–0.96 may respectively increase or decrease the number of sick leave days. Conclusion: Sick leave in patients with AD is a common problem and symptom interference and perfectionism/diligence appeared to influence it. Novel approaches are needed to deal with symptoms at work or school to reduce the amount of sick leave due to AD.

Symplectic Tracking of Multi-Isotopic Heavy-Ion Beams in SixTrack

CERN Document Server

Hermes, Pascal; De Maria, Riccardo

2016-01-01

The software SixTrack provides symplectic proton tracking over a large number of turns. The code is used for the tracking of beam halo particles and the simulation of their interaction with the collimators to study the efficiency of the LHC collimation system. Tracking simulations for heavy-ion beams require taking into account the mass to charge ratio of each particle because heavy ions can be subject to fragmentation at their passage through the collimators. In this paper we present the derivation of a Hamiltonian for multi-isotopic heavy-ion beams and symplectic tracking maps derived from it. The resulting tracking maps were implemented in the tracking software SixTrack. With this modification, SixTrack can be used to natively track heavy-ion beams of multiple isotopes through a magnetic accelerator lattice.

78 FR 54445 - Privacy Act Systems of Records; Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking System

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-04

... INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Christian B. Dellis, Export Services, Plant Health Programs, Plant Protection and... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Office of the Secretary [Docket No. APHIS-2012-0104] Privacy Act Systems of Records; Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking System AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health...

Validation of sick leave measures: self-reported sick leave and sickness benefit data from a Danish national register compared to multiple workplace-registered sick leave spells in a Danish municipality.

Science.gov (United States)

Stapelfeldt, Christina Malmose; Jensen, Chris; Andersen, Niels Trolle; Fleten, Nils; Nielsen, Claus Vinther

2012-08-15

Previous validation studies of sick leave measures have focused on self-reports. Register-based sick leave data are considered to be valid; however methodological problems may be associated with such data. A Danish national register on sickness benefit (DREAM) has been widely used in sick leave research. On the basis of sick leave records from 3,554 and 2,311 eldercare workers in 14 different workplaces, the aim of this study was to: 1) validate registered sickness benefit data from DREAM against workplace-registered sick leave spells of at least 15 days; 2) validate self-reported sick leave days during one year against workplace-registered sick leave. Agreement between workplace-registered sick leave and DREAM-registered sickness benefit was reported as sensitivities, specificities and positive predictive values. A receiver-operating characteristic curve and a Bland-Altman plot were used to study the concordance with sick leave duration of the first spell. By means of an analysis of agreement between self-reported and workplace-registered sick leave sensitivity and specificity was calculated. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals (95% CI) were used. The probability that registered DREAM data on sickness benefit agrees with workplace-registered sick leave of at least 15 days was 96.7% (95% CI: 95.6-97.6). Specificity was close to 100% (95% CI: 98.3-100). The registered DREAM data on sickness benefit overestimated the duration of sick leave spells by an average of 1.4 (SD: 3.9) weeks. Separate analysis on pregnancy-related sick leave revealed a maximum sensitivity of 20% (95% CI: 4.3-48.1).The sensitivity of self-reporting at least one or at least 56 sick leave day/s was 94.5 (95% CI: 93.4 - 95.5) % and 58.5 (95% CI: 51.1 - 65.6) % respectively. The corresponding specificities were 85.3 (95% CI: 81.4 - 88.6) % and 98.9 (95% CI: 98.3 - 99.3) %. The DREAM register offered valid measures of sick leave spells of at least 15 days among eldercare employees. Pregnancy

Validation of sick leave measures: self-reported sick leave and sickness benefit data from a Danish national register compared to multiple workplace-registered sick leave spells in a Danish municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stapelfeldt Christina Malmose

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous validation studies of sick leave measures have focused on self-reports. Register-based sick leave data are considered to be valid; however methodological problems may be associated with such data. A Danish national register on sickness benefit (DREAM has been widely used in sick leave research. On the basis of sick leave records from 3,554 and 2,311 eldercare workers in 14 different workplaces, the aim of this study was to: 1 validate registered sickness benefit data from DREAM against workplace-registered sick leave spells of at least 15 days; 2 validate self-reported sick leave days during one year against workplace-registered sick leave. Methods Agreement between workplace-registered sick leave and DREAM-registered sickness benefit was reported as sensitivities, specificities and positive predictive values. A receiver-operating characteristic curve and a Bland-Altman plot were used to study the concordance with sick leave duration of the first spell. By means of an analysis of agreement between self-reported and workplace-registered sick leave sensitivity and specificity was calculated. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals (95% CI were used. Results The probability that registered DREAM data on sickness benefit agrees with workplace-registered sick leave of at least 15 days was 96.7% (95% CI: 95.6-97.6. Specificity was close to 100% (95% CI: 98.3-100. The registered DREAM data on sickness benefit overestimated the duration of sick leave spells by an average of 1.4 (SD: 3.9 weeks. Separate analysis on pregnancy-related sick leave revealed a maximum sensitivity of 20% (95% CI: 4.3-48.1. The sensitivity of self-reporting at least one or at least 56 sick leave day/s was 94.5 (95% CI: 93.4 – 95.5 % and 58.5 (95% CI: 51.1 – 65.6 % respectively. The corresponding specificities were 85.3 (95% CI: 81.4 – 88.6 % and 98.9 (95% CI: 98.3 – 99.3 %. Conclusions The DREAM register offered valid measures of sick

PolarTrack: Optical Outside-In Device Tracking that Exploits Display Polarization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rädle, Roman; Jetter, Hans-Christian; Fischer, Jonathan

2018-01-01

PolarTrack is a novel camera-based approach to detecting and tracking mobile devices inside the capture volume. In PolarTrack, a polarization filter continuously rotates in front of an off-the-shelf color camera, which causes the displays of observed devices to periodically blink in the camera feed....... The periodic blinking results from the physical characteristics of current displays, which shine polarized light either through an LC overlay to produce images or through a polarizer to reduce light reflections on OLED displays. PolarTrack runs a simple detection algorithm on the camera feed to segment...... displays and track their locations and orientations, which makes PolarTrack particularly suitable as a tracking system for cross-device interaction with mobile devices. Our evaluation of PolarTrack's tracking quality and comparison with state-of-the-art camera-based multi-device tracking showed a better...

Using postural synergies to animate a low-dimensional hand avatar in haptic simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mulatto, Sara; Formaglio, Alessandro; Malvezzi, Monica; Prattichizzo, Domenico

2013-01-01

A technique to animate a realistic hand avatar with 20 DoFs based on the biomechanics of the human hand is presented. The animation does not use any sensor glove or advanced tracker with markers. The proposed approach is based on the knowledge of a set of kinematic constraints on the model of the hand, referred to as postural synergies, which allows to represent the hand posture using a number of variables lower than the number of joints of the hand model. This low-dimensional set of parameters is estimated from direct measurement of the motion of thumb and index finger tracked using two haptic devices. A kinematic inversion algorithm has been developed, which takes synergies into account and estimates the kinematic configuration of the whole hand, i.e., also of the fingers whose end tips are not directly tracked by the two haptic devices. The hand skin is deformable and its deformation is computed using a linear vertex blending technique. The proposed synergy-based animation of the hand avatar involves only algebraic computations and is suitable for real-time implementation as required in haptics.

TRACKING STEM CELLS IN AN INHERENTLY REGENRATIVE ENVIRONMENT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Henrik; Foldager, Casper Bindzus; Hagensen, Mette

2012-01-01

of such therapies. The objective of this study was to non-invasively evaluate regeneration over time in a truly regenerative process, the regeneration of an axolotl limb, employing superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (SPIO) contrast agents for stem cell tracking in MRI. Materials and Methods: Amputation of one...... in conjugation with the transfection agent poly-L-lysin (PLL) was tested on cultures of axolotl blastema cells from 7 animals in vitro. PicoGreen-DNA quantification following 3 weeks of culturing was performed to quantify cell viability. MRI-tracking of SPIO labelled blastema cells in the regenerating limb of 5....... Results: SPIO labelling with neither VSOP-C200, Resovist nor Resovist/PLL had any significant effect on blastema cell viability in vitro. Labelled tissue was clearly detectable in vivo 49 days after amputation using MRI (Fig. 1) and a significant decline in signal intensity of labelled limbs versus sham...

Access to paid parental leave for academic surgeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Itum, Dina S; Oltmann, Sarah C; Choti, Michael A; Piper, Hannah G

2018-01-31

Parental leave is linked to health benefits for both child and parent. It is unclear whether surgeons at academic centers have access to paid parental leave. The aim of this study was to determine parental leave policies at the top academic medical centers in the United States to identify trends among institutions. The top academic medical centers were identified (US News & World Report 2016). Institutional websites were reviewed, or human resource departments were contacted to determine parental leave policies. "Paid leave" was defined as leave without the mandated use of personal time off. Institutions were categorized based on geographical region, funding, and ranking to determine trends regarding availability and duration of paid parental leave. Among the top 91 ranked medical schools, 48 (53%) offer paid parental leave. Availability of a paid leave policy differed based on private versus public institutions (70% versus 38%, P leaves (>6 wk) than public institutions (67% versus 33%; P = 0.02). No difference in paid leave duration was noted based on region (P = 0.60) or rank (P = 0.81). Approximately, 50% of top academic medical centers offer paid parental leave. Private institutions are more likely to offer paid leave and leave of longer duration. There is considerable variability in access to paid parenteral leave for academic surgeons. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sugar beet leaves for functional ingredients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tamayo Tenorio, Angelica

2017-01-01

Plant leaves are recognised as a potential source for food applications based on their nutritional profile and interesting technological properties of leaf components, and based on the large availability of plant leaves in agricultural waste streams. Besides proteins, leaves have a rich

78 FR 37775 - Privacy Act Systems of Records; Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking System

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-24

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Office of the Secretary [Docket No. APHIS-2012-0104] Privacy Act Systems of Records; Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking System AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health... Health Inspection Service proposes to add a system of records to its inventory of records systems subject...

Paternity leave experiences of NHS doctors.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Hannah; Szram, Joanna

2013-10-01

This study assesses NHS doctors' experiences of paternity leave and evaluates whether practices have changed since the introduction of additional paternity leave (APL) in April 2011. An anonymised online survey designed to discover experiences and uptake of APL and ordinary paternity leave (OPL) was distributed to all members of the London Deanery Synapse® network. In total, 364 fathers responded. Their seniority ranged from foundation trainees to consultants. Following the formal introduction of OPL in 2003, the number of fathers taking any paternity leave increased (from 50% to 95.6%). The majority of respondents (76.7%) felt well supported by their employer. Since the introduction of APL, 3% of respondents took additional leave. Reasons for the low uptake of APL included the impracticalities of the law, poor awareness and perceived attitudes and implications for training. Problems with OPL included the inadequate provision of cover and difficulties in timing the leave appropriately.

The association of academic tracking to depressive symptoms among adolescents in three Caribbean countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clarke Nelson

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Students who are tracked into low performing schools or classrooms that limit their life chances may report increased depressive symptoms. Limited research has been conducted on academic tracking and its association with depressive symptoms among high school students in the Caribbean. This project examines levels of depressive symptoms among tenth grade students tracked within and between high schools in Jamaica, St. Vincent and St. Kitts and Nevis. Methods Students enrolled in grade ten of the 2006/2007 academic year in Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent were administered the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II. In Jamaica and St. Vincent, academic tracking was operationalized using data provided by the local Ministries of Education. These Ministries ranked ordered schools according to students' performance on Caribbean school leaving examinations. In St. Kitts and Nevis tracking was operationalized by classroom assignments within schools whereby students were grouped into classrooms according to their levels of academic achievement. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between academic tracking and BDI-II depression scores. Results A wide cross-section of 4th form students in each nation was sampled (n = 1738; 278 from Jamaica, 737 St. Kitts and Nevis, 716 from St. Vincent; 52% females, 46.2% males and 1.8% no gender reported; age 12 to 19 years, mean = 15.4 yrs, sd = .9 yr. Roughly half (53% of the students reported some symptoms of depression with 19.2% reporting moderate and 10.7% reporting severe symptoms of depression. Students in Jamaica reported significantly higher depression scores than those in either St. Kitts and Nevis or St. Vincent (p Conclusions There appears to be an association between academic tracking and depressive symptoms that is differentially manifested across the islands of Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent.

Multi-year microbial source tracking study characterizing fecal contamination in an urban watershed

Science.gov (United States)

Bushon, Rebecca N.; Brady, Amie M. G.; Christensen, Eric D.; Stelzer, Erin A.

2017-01-01

Microbiological and hydrological data were used to rank tributary stream contributions of bacteria to the Little Blue River in Independence, Missouri. Concentrations, loadings and yields of E. coli and microbial source tracking (MST) markers, were characterized during base flow and storm events in five subbasins within Independence, as well as sources entering and leaving the city through the river. The E. coli water quality threshold was exceeded in 29% of base-flow and 89% of storm-event samples. The total contribution of E. coli and MST markers from tributaries within Independence to the Little Blue River, regardless of streamflow, did not significantly increase the median concentrations leaving the city. Daily loads and yields of E. coli and MST markers were used to rank the subbasins according to their contribution of each constituent to the river. The ranking methodology used in this study may prove useful in prioritizing remediation in the different subbasins.

INTRODUCTION OF A NEW LEAVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CERN Document Server

HR Division

2000-01-01

The introduction of new leave rules (arising from the RSL, PRP and other programmes) has made the present leave management system rather complicated and difficult to manage. It has therefore been decided to replace it with a more flexible and adaptable system, which will come into force on 1st October 2000. Henceforth, days of leave will be credited monthly instead of annually. Members of the personnel will have round-the-clock direct access to more detailed, confidential information regarding their various kinds of leave.They will also receive a personal monthly statement with their pay slips. The new system does not require any amendment of the regulations, except with respect to the frequency of leave calculations (monthly instead of annual). I. Main characteristics of the new leave system 1. The main feature of the new system is the creation of accounts to which leave will be credited or debited as appropriate. Depending on their circumstances, members of the personnel may have up to four individual leave...

Evaluation of antioxidant activity of grapevine leaves extracts (Vitis labrusca in liver of Wistar rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

THAYS K. SCHAFFER

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the hepatoprotection of organic and conventional grapevine leaves extract (Vitis labrusca. The total polyphenol content and the isolate polyphenols by HPLC were evaluate. The animals received intraperitoneal injections of saline or extracts (conventional or organic - 30 mg/kg for 14 days. On day 15, the rats received carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 or mineral oil (i.p.. After 4h, the animals were euthanized. The analysis of the liver enzymes activity (AST, ALT, GGT was performed using serum, obtained by blood and the levels of lipid peroxidation (TBARS, protein oxidation (carbonyl, and the activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase were analyzed in the liver. The results showed that the organic extract is richer in polyphenol and resveratrol than the conventional one. Both extracts prevent lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation generated by CCl4. Moreover, the extracts demonstrated ability to modulate the activity of SOD and CAT, as well as to establish a balance in the ratio of SOD/CAT. We also found that the CCl4 increased the levels of AST and GGT, and that both extracts prevent this. These results indicate that grapevine leaves extracts, both, organic and conventional, can prevent liver disorders.

Effect of tropical browse leaves supplementation on rumen enzymes of sheep and goats fed Dichanthium annulatum grass-based diets.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Sultan; Kundu, S S

2010-08-01

In a switch-over experiment, eight male animals, four each of sheep and goats of local breeds with mean body weight of 26. 8 +/- 2.0 and 30.0 +/- 2.1 kg, were fed Dichanthium annulatum (DA) grass and four browse species viz. Helictris isora, Securengia virosa, Leucaena leucocephala (LL) and Hardwickia binnata (HB) in four feeding trials to assess their supplementary effect on activity of rumen enzymes. The sheep and goats were offered DA grass with individual browse in 75:25 and 50:50 proportions, respectively, for more than 3 months during each feeding trial, and rumen liquor samples were collected twice at 0 and 4 h post feeding after 60 and 90 days of feeding. Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) enzymes were determined in the bacteria and protozoa fractions of rumen liquor, while cellulase enzyme activity was measured in mixed rumen liquor. LL and HB had the highest and lowest contents of CP, while fibre contents were lower in early than later browse leaves. Supplementation of browse leaves significantly (P goats on all DA grass-browse-supplemented diets except DA-HB (42.8 units/mg protein), where activity was significantly (P Goat exhibited higher activities of GOT and GPT than sheep in both bacteria and protozoa fraction of rumen liquor, while cellulase activity was similar between the animal species on the grass-browse leaves diets. Results indicate that browse leaves supplementation affect the enzyme activities of sheep and goats rumen, while the goats rumen liquor had higher activities of GOT, GPT and GDH enzyme than sheep.

Comparison of Quaternion and Euler Angle Methods for Joint Angle Animation of Human Figure Models

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Usta, Umit

1999-01-01

.... The model is then manipulated with user inputs by a mouse. As part of this research, the real-time display of human arm tracking with two inertial sensors, human walking, inverse kinematics, and key frame animation...

Twin-cuvette measurement technique for investigation of dry deposition of O3 and PAN to plant leaves under controlled humidity conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Sun

2016-02-01

with Quercus ilex was investigated over a 14 day measurement period under controlled climate chamber conditions. By using O3 mixing ratios between 32 and 105 ppb and PAN mixing ratios between 100 and 350 ppt, a linear dependency of the O3 flux as well as the PAN flux in relation to its ambient mixing ratio could be observed. At relative humidity (RH of 40 %, the deposition velocity ratio of O3 and PAN was determined to be 0.45. At that humidity, the deposition of O3 to the plant leaves was found to be only controlled by the leaf stomata. For PAN, an additional resistance inhibited the uptake of PAN by the leaves. Furthermore, the formation of water films on the leaf surface of plants inside the chamber could be continuously tracked with our custom built leaf wetness sensors. Using this modified leaf wetness sensor measuring the electrical surface conductance on the leaves, an exponential relationship between the ambient humidity and the electrical surface conductance could be determined.

Integrating animal movement with habitat suitability for estimating dynamic landscape connectivity

Science.gov (United States)

van Toor, Mariëlle L.; Kranstauber, Bart; Newman, Scott H.; Prosser, Diann J.; Takekawa, John Y.; Technitis, Georgios; Weibel, Robert; Wikelski, Martin; Safi, Kamran

2018-01-01

Context High-resolution animal movement data are becoming increasingly available, yet having a multitude of empirical trajectories alone does not allow us to easily predict animal movement. To answer ecological and evolutionary questions at a population level, quantitative estimates of a species’ potential to link patches or populations are of importance. Objectives We introduce an approach that combines movement-informed simulated trajectories with an environment-informed estimate of the trajectories’ plausibility to derive connectivity. Using the example of bar-headed geese we estimated migratory connectivity at a landscape level throughout the annual cycle in their native range. Methods We used tracking data of bar-headed geese to develop a multi-state movement model and to estimate temporally explicit habitat suitability within the species’ range. We simulated migratory movements between range fragments, and calculated a measure we called route viability. The results are compared to expectations derived from published literature. Results Simulated migrations matched empirical trajectories in key characteristics such as stopover duration. The viability of the simulated trajectories was similar to that of the empirical trajectories. We found that, overall, the migratory connectivity was higher within the breeding than in wintering areas, corroborating previous findings for this species. Conclusions We show how empirical tracking data and environmental information can be fused for meaningful predictions of animal movements throughout the year and even outside the spatial range of the available data. Beyond predicting migratory connectivity, our framework will prove useful for modelling ecological processes facilitated by animal movement, such as seed dispersal or disease ecology.

Wildlife tracking data management: a new vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Urbano, Ferdinando; Cagnacci, Francesca; Calenge, Clément; Dettki, Holger; Cameron, Alison; Neteler, Markus

2010-07-27

To date, the processing of wildlife location data has relied on a diversity of software and file formats. Data management and the following spatial and statistical analyses were undertaken in multiple steps, involving many time-consuming importing/exporting phases. Recent technological advancements in tracking systems have made large, continuous, high-frequency datasets of wildlife behavioural data available, such as those derived from the global positioning system (GPS) and other animal-attached sensor devices. These data can be further complemented by a wide range of other information about the animals' environment. Management of these large and diverse datasets for modelling animal behaviour and ecology can prove challenging, slowing down analysis and increasing the probability of mistakes in data handling. We address these issues by critically evaluating the requirements for good management of GPS data for wildlife biology. We highlight that dedicated data management tools and expertise are needed. We explore current research in wildlife data management. We suggest a general direction of development, based on a modular software architecture with a spatial database at its core, where interoperability, data model design and integration with remote-sensing data sources play an important role in successful GPS data handling.

Track reconstruction at the ILC: the ILD tracking software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaede, Frank; Aplin, Steven; Rosemann, Christoph; Voutsinas, Georgios; Glattauer, Robin

2014-01-01

One of the key requirements for Higgs physics at the International Linear Collider ILC is excellent track reconstruction with very good momentum and impact parameter resolution. ILD is one of the two detector concepts at the ILC. Its central tracking system comprises of an outer Si-tracker, a highly granular TPC, an intermediate silicon tracker and a pixel vertex detector, and it is complemented by silicon tracking disks in the forward direction. Large hit densities from beam induced coherent electron-positron pairs at the ILC pose an additional challenge to the pattern recognition algorithms. We present the recently developed new ILD tracking software, the pattern recognition algorithms that are using clustering techniques, Cellular Automatons and Kalman filter based track extrapolation. The performance of the ILD tracking system is evaluated using a detailed simulation including dead material, gaps and imperfections.

Enhanced Starting Track Event Selection for Astrophysical Neutrinos in IceCube

Science.gov (United States)

Jero, Kyle; IceCube Collaboration

2017-09-01

IceCube’s measurements of the astrophysical neutrino flux have applied veto techniques to suppress atmospheric neutrinos and muons. All the vetos thus far have used the outer regions of the detector to identify and reject penetrating muon tracks, leaving the inner parts of the detector available to observe the astrophysical neutrino flux. Here we discuss a method that is optimized for muon neutrinos which have a charged-current interaction with a contained vertex. This analysis exploits the high quality directional information of muons to determine a veto on an event by event basis. The final sample will contain astrophysical neutrinos with good purity starting around 10 TeV.

38 CFR 21.342 - Leave accounting policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Leave accounting policy. 21.342 Section 21.342 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.... Chapter 31 Leaves of Absence § 21.342 Leave accounting policy. (a) Amount of leave. A veteran pursuing one...

Career trajectories of nurses leaving the hospital sector in Ontario, Canada (1993-2004).

Science.gov (United States)

Alameddine, Mohamad; Baumann, Andrea; Laporte, Audrey; O'Brien-Pallas, Linda; Levinton, Carey; Onate, Kanecy; Deber, Raisa

2009-05-01

This paper is a report of an analysis of the career trajectories of nurses 1 year after leaving hospitals. Although hospitals are traditionally the largest employers of nurses, technological advances and budgetary constraints have resulted in many countries in relative shrinkage of the hospital sector and a shift of care (and jobs) into home/community settings. It has been often assumed that nurses displaced from hospitals will move to work in the other workplaces, especially the community sector. Employment patterns were tracked by examining a longitudinal database of all 201,463 nurses registered with the College of Nurses Ontario (Canada) between 1993 and 2004. Focusing on the employment categories Active (Working in nursing), Eligible-Seeking nursing employment or Dropout from the nursing labour market, year-to-year transition matrixes were generated by sector and sub-sector of employment, nurse type, age group and work status. For every nurse practising nursing in any non-hospital job or in the community a year after leaving hospitals, an average of 1.3 and four nurses, respectively, dropped out of Ontario's labour market. The proportion of nurses leaving hospitals transitioning to the Dropout category ranged from 63.3% (1994-95) to 38.6% (2001-02). The proportion dropping out of Ontario's market was higher for Registered Practical Nurses (compared to Registered Nurses), increased with age and decreased with degree of casualization in nurses' jobs. Downsizing hospitals without attention to the potentially negative impact on the nursing workforce can lead to retention difficulties and adversely affects the overall supply of nurses.

Building the bridge between animal movement and population dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Juan M; Moorcroft, Paul R; Matthiopoulos, Jason; Frair, Jacqueline L; Kie, John G; Powell, Roger A; Merrill, Evelyn H; Haydon, Daniel T

2010-07-27

While the mechanistic links between animal movement and population dynamics are ecologically obvious, it is much less clear when knowledge of animal movement is a prerequisite for understanding and predicting population dynamics. GPS and other technologies enable detailed tracking of animal location concurrently with acquisition of landscape data and information on individual physiology. These tools can be used to refine our understanding of the mechanistic links between behaviour and individual condition through 'spatially informed' movement models where time allocation to different behaviours affects individual survival and reproduction. For some species, socially informed models that address the movements and average fitness of differently sized groups and how they are affected by fission-fusion processes at relevant temporal scales are required. Furthermore, as most animals revisit some places and avoid others based on their previous experiences, we foresee the incorporation of long-term memory and intention in movement models. The way animals move has important consequences for the degree of mixing that we expect to find both within a population and between individuals of different species. The mixing rate dictates the level of detail required by models to capture the influence of heterogeneity and the dynamics of intra- and interspecific interaction.

A climatological model of North Indian Ocean tropical cyclone genesis, tracks and landfall

Science.gov (United States)

Wahiduzzaman, Mohammad; Oliver, Eric C. J.; Wotherspoon, Simon J.; Holbrook, Neil J.

2017-10-01

Extensive damage and loss of life can be caused by tropical cyclones (TCs) that make landfall. Modelling of TC landfall probability is beneficial to insurance/re-insurance companies, decision makers, government policy and planning, and residents in coastal areas. In this study, we develop a climatological model of tropical cyclone genesis, tracks and landfall for North Indian Ocean (NIO) rim countries based on kernel density estimation, a generalised additive model (GAM) including an Euler integration step, and landfall detection using a country mask approach. Using a 35-year record (1979-2013) of tropical cyclone track observations from the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (part of the International Best Track Archive Climate Stewardship Version 6), the GAM is fitted to the observed cyclone track velocities as a smooth function of location in each season. The distribution of cyclone genesis points is approximated by kernel density estimation. The model simulated TCs are randomly selected from the fitted kernel (TC genesis), and the cyclone paths (TC tracks), represented by the GAM together with the application of stochastic innovations at each step, are simulated to generate a suite of NIO rim landfall statistics. Three hindcast validation methods are applied to evaluate the integrity of the model. First, leave-one-out cross validation is applied whereby the country of landfall is determined by the majority vote (considering the location by only highest percentage of landfall) from the simulated tracks. Second, the probability distribution of simulated landfall is evaluated against the observed landfall. Third, the distances between the point of observed landfall and simulated landfall are compared and quantified. Overall, the model shows very good cross-validated hindcast skill of modelled landfalling cyclones against observations in each of the NIO tropical cyclone seasons and for most NIO rim countries, with only a relatively small difference in the percentage of

Sick Leave and Factors Influencing Sick Leave in Adult Patients with Atopic Dermatitis : A Cross-Sectional Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Os-Medendorp, Harmieke; Appelman-Noordermeer, Simone; Bruijnzeel-Koomen, Carla A.F.M.; de Bruin-Weller, MS

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the prevalence of sick leave due to atopic dermatitis (AD). The current literature on factors influencing sick leave is mostly derived from other chronic inflammatory diseases. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sick leave due to AD and to identify

A Modeling Approach to Enhance Animal-Obtained Oceanographic Data Geo- Position

Science.gov (United States)

Tremblay, Y.; Robinson, P.; Weise, M. J.; Costa, D. P.

2006-12-01

Diving animals are increasingly being used as platforms to collect oceanographic data such as CTD profiles. Animal borne sensors provide an amazing amount of data that have to be spatially referenced. Because of technical limitations geo-position of these data mostly comes from the interpolation of locations obtained through the ARGOS positioning system. This system lacks spatio-temporal resolution compared to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and therefore, the positions of these oceanographic data are not well defined. A consequence of this is that many data collected in coastal regions are discarded, because many casts' records fell on land. Using modeling techniques, we propose a method to deal with this problem. The method is rather intuitive, and instead of deleting unreasonable or low-quality locations, it uses them by taking into account their lack of precision as a source of information. In a similar way, coastlines are used as sources of information, because marine animals do not travel over land. The method was evaluated using simultaneously obtained tracks with the Argos and GPS system. The tracks obtained from this method are considerably enhanced and allow a more accurate geo-reference of oceanographic data. In addition, the method provides a way to evaluate spatial errors for each cast that is not otherwise possible with classical filtering methods.

Employer Provisions for Parental Leave.

Science.gov (United States)

Meisenheimer, Joseph R., II

1989-01-01

Slightly more than one-third of full-time employees in medium and large firms in private industry were covered by maternity- or paternity-leave policies; days off were usually leave without pay. (Author)

THE EFFECT OF HARVESTING TIME AND DEGREE OF LEAVES MATURATION ON VITEKSIKARPIN LEVEL IN LEGUNDI LEAVES (Vitex trifolia L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yosi Bayu Murti

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Legundi (Vitex trifolia L. is one of Indonesia’s traditional crops that have not been studied and developed into fitofarmaka. Legundi leaves can be used for therapy in asthmatics with optimum level. Therefore it is necessary for optimization of harvesting Legundi leaves which includes time and degree of maturation of the leaves. Harvesting time optimization by means of harvesting the leaves at the different times i.e. morning, noon, and evening, while the leaf maturation level optimization by way of harvesting leaves numbered one through five of the youngest end, then the time of harvesting and leaves that provide optimum levels of viteksikarpin were assigned. Measurements of viteksikarpin assigned using TLCdensitometry then analyzed using Wincats software and Microsoft Office Excel 2007. The highest viteksikarpin levels in Legundi leaves harvested in the afternoon, then during the day, and the lowest in the morning. The highest viteksikarpin levels of Legundi leaves were on second leaf, first leaf, third leaf, fourth leaf, and the lowest on fifth leaf. Optimum levels of viteksikarpin in Legundi leaves was harvested in the afternoon by picking the first until the third leaf.

Analyzing Ocean Tracks: A model for student engagement in authentic scientific practices using data

Science.gov (United States)

Krumhansl, K.; Krumhansl, R.; Brown, C.; DeLisi, J.; Kochevar, R.; Sickler, J.; Busey, A.; Mueller-Northcott, J.; Block, B.

2013-12-01

The collection of large quantities of scientific data has not only transformed science, but holds the potential to transform teaching and learning by engaging students in authentic scientific work. Furthermore, it has become imperative in a data-rich world that students gain competency in working with and interpreting data. The Next Generation Science Standards reflect both the opportunity and need for greater integration of data in science education, and emphasize that both scientific knowledge and practice are essential elements of science learning. The process of enabling access by novice learners to data collected and used by experts poses significant challenges, however, recent research has demonstrated that barriers to student learning with data can be overcome by the careful design of data access and analysis tools that are specifically tailored to students. A group of educators at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and scientists at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station are collaborating to develop and test a model for student engagement with scientific data using a web-based platform. This model, called Ocean Tracks: Investigating Marine Migrations in a Changing Ocean, provides students with the ability to plot and analyze tracks of migrating marine animals collected through the Tagging of Pacific Predators program. The interface and associated curriculum support students in identifying relationships between animal behavior and physical oceanographic variables (e.g. SST, chlorophyll, currents), making linkages between the living world and climate. Students are also supported in investigating possible sources of human impact to important biodiversity hotspots in the Pacific Ocean. The first round of classroom testing revealed that students were able to easily access and display data on the interface, and collect measurements from the animal tracks and oceanographic data layers. They were able to link multiple types of data to draw powerful

INTRODUCTION OF A NEW LEAVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CERN Multimedia

DIVISION HR

2000-01-01

The introduction of new leave rules (arising from the RSL, PRP and other programs) has made the present leave management system rather complicated and difficult to manage. It has therefore been decided to replace it with a more flexible and adaptable system, which will come into force on 1st October 2000. Henceforth, days of leave will be credited monthly instead of annually. Members of the personnel will have round-the-clock direct access to more detailed, confidential information regarding their various kinds of leave. They will also receive a personal monthly statement with their pay slips. The new system does not require any amendment of the regulations, except with respect to the frequency of leave calculations (monthly instead of annual). I. Main characteristics of the new leave system1. The main feature of the new system is the creation of accounts to which leave will be credited or debited as appropriate. Depending on their circumstances, members of the personnel may have up to four individual leave a...

History dependence in insect flight decisions during odor tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Rich; van Breugel, Floris; Dickinson, Michael; Riffell, Jeffrey A; Fairhall, Adrienne

2018-02-01

Natural decision-making often involves extended decision sequences in response to variable stimuli with complex structure. As an example, many animals follow odor plumes to locate food sources or mates, but turbulence breaks up the advected odor signal into intermittent filaments and puffs. This scenario provides an opportunity to ask how animals use sparse, instantaneous, and stochastic signal encounters to generate goal-oriented behavioral sequences. Here we examined the trajectories of flying fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) navigating in controlled plumes of attractive odorants. While it is known that mean odor-triggered flight responses are dominated by upwind turns, individual responses are highly variable. We asked whether deviations from mean responses depended on specific features of odor encounters, and found that odor-triggered turns were slightly but significantly modulated by two features of odor encounters. First, encounters with higher concentrations triggered stronger upwind turns. Second, encounters occurring later in a sequence triggered weaker upwind turns. To contextualize the latter history dependence theoretically, we examined trajectories simulated from three normative tracking strategies. We found that neither a purely reactive strategy nor a strategy in which the tracker learned the plume centerline over time captured the observed history dependence. In contrast, "infotaxis", in which flight decisions maximized expected information gain about source location, exhibited a history dependence aligned in sign with the data, though much larger in magnitude. These findings suggest that while true plume tracking is dominated by a reactive odor response it might also involve a history-dependent modulation of responses consistent with the accumulation of information about a source over multi-encounter timescales. This suggests that short-term memory processes modulating decision sequences may play a role in

Effects of Khaya senegalensis leaves on performance, carcass traits, hemtological and biochemical parameters in rabbits

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Wareth, A. A. A.; Hammad, Seddik; Ahmed, Hassan

2014-01-01

One of the challenges facing farmers today is to ensure adequate integration of natural resources into animal feeds. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of Khaya senegalensis (KS) leaves on the performance of growing male rabbits, carcass traits and biochemical as well as hematological parameters. Thirty New Zealand White male growing rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups (10 rabbits per group). Group I (control) received standard rabbit diet. Rabbits in group II and group III were fed standard rabbit diet supplemented with 35 % and 65 % KS leaves, respectively. All rabbits were fed daily for 25 days. The performance parameters and carcass criteria, including daily body weight gain, final body weight, and the percentage of dressing, were increased in rabbits fed 35 % KS when compared to the control group. Kidney and liver weight ratios increased significantly in group II but dropped in group III. Furthermore, liver enzymes - alanine aminotransferase and aspartate transaminase and kidney function parameters - urea, and creatinine - increased in both group II (significant P<0.05) and in group III (significant P<0.01) when compared to the control group. Moreover, KS leaves induced a significant increase (P<0.05) in the total white blood cell count, the percentage of granulocytes and the platelet count; whereas, the percentage of lymphocytes, red blood cell count, hemoglobin content, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration were not statistically significantly changed. This study demonstrates that the performance parameters and carcass traits are improved by the replacement of rabbit's diet with KS leaves. However, KS leaves may adversely affect liver and kidney function in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, further studies are required to elucidate the maximum tolerable and toxic, as well as lethal doses, and to isolate the pharmacologically active components from KS leaves. PMID

Examining the Evolution of Paid Parental Leave.

Science.gov (United States)

Sladek, Carol

While the United States continues to be the only developed nation without mandated paid maternity leave, U.S. employers are blazing their own trail for new parents. This article defines parental leave, explains what's driving the increased interest in paid parental leave among employers offering it and discusses how paid parental leave can benefit employers and employees alike. Finally, the author discusses why not all employers are offering these benefits as well as considerations for employers contemplating whether paid parental leave is right for them.

Is welfare all that matters? A discussion of what should be included in policy-making regarding animals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yeates, J.W.; Röcklinsberg, H.; Gjerris, Mickey

2011-01-01

Policy-making concerned with animals often includes human interests, such as economy, trade, environmental protection, disease control, species conservation etc. When it comes to the interests of the animals, such policy-making often makes use of the results of animal welfare science to provide...... assessments of ethically relevant concerns for animals. This has provided a scientific rigour that has helped to overcome controversies and allowed debates to move forward according to generally agreed methodologies. However, this focus can lead to policies leaving out other important issues relevant...... to animals. This can be considered as a problem of what is included in welfare science, or of what is included in policy. This suggests two possible solutions: expanding animal welfare science to address all ethical concerns about animals’ interests or widening the perspective considered in policy...

Positive and negative consequences of sick leave for the individual, with special focus on part-time sick leave.

Science.gov (United States)

Sieurin, Leif; Josephson, Malin; Vingård, Eva

2009-01-01

To describe the consequences of long-term sick leave (>28 days) on working situation, health and lifestyle among employees from the public sector in Sweden. Employees in four county councils and two municipalities on long term sick leave on 1 November 2005 (n = 1,128) answered a questionnaire in February 2006. The response rate was 71.7%. Eighty seven per cent were still on sick leave when the questionnaire was answered: 54% part time and 33% full time. Reporting positive consequences was rare but reporting negative consequences, such as effects on the development of salary, the possibilities of pursuing a career or to change to another job were common. Sick leave seemed to lead to a considerable loss of zest for work, even if the respondents were back in work full time. Regardless of the negative consequences at work, 92% of those on part-time sick leave believed that the part-time sick leave was good for them even if many thought it had negative consequences for employer and colleagues. Long-term sick leave has negative consequences for the individual in work situations, even for those back at work full time. The development of salary and career seem to be most affected. The attitude towards part-time sick leave was positive and this result indicates that there is a potential for an increased degree of partial return to work in the group of people on long-term sick leave.

5 CFR 630.906 - Transfer of annual leave.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... employing agency may not be sufficient to meet the needs of the leave recipient; or (3) In the judgment of... specified leave recipient. Except as provided in paragraph (f) of this section, annual leave may be transferred only to a leave recipient employed by the leave donor's employing agency. (b) Except as provided...

Grass leaves as potential hominin dietary resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Paine, Oliver C C; Koppa, Abigale; Henry, Amanda G; Leichliter, Jennifer N; Codron, Daryl; Codron, Jacqueline; Lambert, Joanna E; Sponheimer, Matt

2018-04-01

Discussions about early hominin diets have generally excluded grass leaves as a staple food resource, despite their ubiquity in most early hominin habitats. In particular, stable carbon isotope studies have shown a prevalent C 4 component in the diets of most taxa, and grass leaves are the single most abundant C 4 resource in African savannas. Grass leaves are typically portrayed as having little nutritional value (e.g., low in protein and high in fiber) for hominins lacking specialized digestive systems. It has also been argued that they present mechanical challenges (i.e., high toughness) for hominins with bunodont dentition. Here, we compare the nutritional and mechanical properties of grass leaves with the plants growing alongside them in African savanna habitats. We also compare grass leaves to the leaves consumed by other hominoids and demonstrate that many, though by no means all, compare favorably with the nutritional and mechanical properties of known primate foods. Our data reveal that grass leaves exhibit tremendous variation and suggest that future reconstructions of hominin dietary ecology take a more nuanced approach when considering grass leaves as a potential hominin dietary resource. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Nurses' leaving intentions: antecedents and mediating factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Takase, Miyuki; Yamashita, Noriko; Oba, Keiko

2008-05-01

This paper is a report of a study to investigate how nurses' work values, perceptions of environmental characteristics, and organizational commitment are related to their leaving intentions. Nurse leaving is a serious international problem as it contributes to the nursing shortage that threatens the welfare of society. The characteristics of nurses, the work environment and nurses' feelings towards their jobs (or organizations) have an impact on their leaving intentions. A convenience sample of 849 Registered Nurses was recruited from three public hospitals in the central-west region of Japan during 2006 and 319 completed questionnaires were returned (response rate 39%). Data were analysed using regression analysis. Nurses' work values and their perceptions of their workplace environment interacted to influence leaving intentions. When there was a match between the importance nurses placed on being able to challenge current clinical practices and the number of the actual opportunities to do so, leaving intentions were low. When there was a mismatch, intention to quit the job became stronger. In addition, organizational commitment intervened between nurses' perceptions of the match in clinical challenges and leaving intention. Nurses' leaving intentions, deserve extensive exploration of their causes. Such exploration should include attending to both nurses' needs and organizational characteristics, investigating how the match between them could affect nurses' leaving intention, and exploring factors that intervene between nurses' perceptions of the match and leaving intention.

[Modeling polarimetric BRDF of leaves surfaces].

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Dong-Hui; Wang, Pei-Juan; Zhu, Qi-Jiang; Zhou, Hong-Min

2010-12-01

The purpose of the present paper is to model a physical polarimetric bidirectional reflectance distribution function (pBRDF), which can character not only the non-Lambertian but also the polarized features in order that the pBRDF can be applied to analyze the relationship between the degree of polarization and the physiological and biochemical parameters of leaves quantitatively later. Firstly, the bidirectional polarized reflectance distributions from several leaves surfaces were measured by the polarized goniometer developed by Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The samples of leaves include two pieces of zea mays L. leaves (young leaf and mature leaf) and a piece of E. palcherrima wild leaf. Non-Lambertian characteristics of directional reflectance from the surfaces of these three leaves are obvious. A Cook-Torrance model was modified by coupling the polarized Fresnel equations to simulate the bidirectional polarized reflectance properties of leaves surfaces. The three parameters in the modified pBRDF model, such as diffuse reflectivity, refractive index and roughness of leaf surface were inversed with genetic algorithm (GA). It was found that the pBRDF model can fit with the measured data well. In addition, these parameters in the model are related with both the physiological and biochemical properties and the polarized characteristics of leaves, therefore it is possible to build the relationships between them later.

Quality of Work Life, Nurses' Intention to Leave the Profession, and Nurses Leaving the Profession: A One-Year Prospective Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ya-Wen; Dai, Yu-Tzu; Chang, Mei Yeh; Chang, Yue-Cune; Yao, Kaiping Grace; Liu, Mei-Chun

2017-07-01

To examine the associations among quality of work life, nurses' intention to leave the profession, and nurses leaving the profession. A prospective study design was used. Participants were 1,283 hospital nurses with a purposive sampling in Taiwan. The self-reported questionnaire consisted of three questionnaires: the Chinese version of the Quality of Nursing Work Life scale, an intention-to-leave profession questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. Records of nurses leaving the profession were surveyed 1 year later. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. As many as 720 nurses (56.1%) had tendencies to leave their profession. However, only 31 nurses (2.5%) left their profession 1 year later. Nurses' intention to leave the profession mediated the relationship between the milieu of respect and autonomy, quality of work life, and nurses leaving the profession. The milieu of respect and autonomy describing the quality of work life predicts the nurses' intention to leave the profession, and together these predict nurses leaving the profession. This study illustrates that nurse managers could provide effective interventions to ameliorate the milieu of respect and autonomy aspect of quality of work life to prevent nurses from leaving their profession. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Curriculum development in the Netherlands: introduction of tracks in the 2001 curriculum at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

van Beukelen, Peter

2004-01-01

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht has recently introduced two major curriculum changes in order to keep pace with developments in research (the vast increase in scientific knowledge), in society (the quality awareness of veterinary clients), and in the veterinary profession, where a species and sector differentiation can be observed. After about 15 years during which the curriculum remained more or less unchanged, a radical curriculum revision was introduced in 1995. A further revision, with the introduction of separate study tracks, began in 2001. The 2001 curriculum focuses on academic and scientific training, active learning and problem solving, training in communication and professional behavior, and lifelong learning. It is divided into a four-year core curriculum, in which a broad, cross-species pathobiological insight is central, and a two-year track curriculum, through which students achieve a starting competence in a specific species or sector. The main teaching methods are tutorials and group tasks; practical work is used mainly to achieve specific veterinary skills. Teaching hours represent 30-35% of all study hours. Self-teaching is encouraged by providing study materials, self-teaching questions, teachers assigned to assist with self-teaching, and adequate facilities. The five tracks offered are Companion Animals/Equine; Food Animals; Veterinary Public Health; Veterinary Research; and Veterinary Administration and Management. All students follow a uniform 30-week clinical rotation program, while the track program is 42 weeks. A summary of admission procedures is given, as well as the times and procedures for track selection.

Tracking the vector of Onchocerca lupi in a rural area of Greece.

Science.gov (United States)

Otranto, Domenico; Dantas-Torres, Filipe; Papadopoulos, Elias; Petrić, Dušan; Ćupina, Aleksandra Ignjatović; Bain, Odile

2012-07-01

During a hot Mediterranean summer, an expedition brought parasitologists from Brazil, France, Greece, Italy, and Serbia to a wooded area near Xanthi, Thrace, northeastern Greece, near the Turkish border, on the track of the vector of the little-known nematode Onchocerca lupi. The scientific purposes of the expedition blended then with stories of humans, animals, and parasites in this rural area.

Screening of cardioprotective activity of leaves of Andrographis paniculata against isoproterenol induced myocardial infarction in rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dipendra Kumar Sah

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: The objective of the present study was to investigate the cardioprotective effects of methanolic extract of leaves of Andrographis paniculata against Isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction (MI in rats.Method: The rats were divided into five experimental groups viz., Normal control, ISO-treated (Disease control, Propranolol (10 mg/kg + ISO, Andrographis paniculata (100 mg/kg +ISO and Andrographis paniculata (200 mg/kg + ISO. Myocardial infarction in rats was induced by the administration of isoproterenol at a dose of 85mg/kg i.p., the rats in group IV and group V were pretreated with methanolic extract of Andrographis paniculata in the dose of 100mg/kg b.w. and 200mg/kg b.w. through oral route. Cardiac marker enzymes, lipid profile and antioxidant enzymes as biomarker of cardiotoxicity were determined in experimental animals.Result: Animals treated with flavonoid of leaves of Andrographis paniculata showed significant decrease in LDL-Cholesterol, total cholesterol, Triglycerides, AST, ALT, ALP, antioxidant enzymes viz., superoxide dismutase, catalase LPO and increase in HDL-Cholesterol and further was confirmed by histopathological study.Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrate that Andrographis paniculata strongly protected the myocardium against isoproterenol-induced infarction and suggest that the cardioprotective effects could be related to antioxidant activities.

The unintended consequences of maternity leaves: How agency interventions mitigate the negative effects of longer legislated maternity leaves.

Science.gov (United States)

Hideg, Ivona; Krstic, Anja; Trau, Raymond N C; Zarina, Tanya

2018-06-07

To support women in the workplace, longer legislated maternity leaves have been encouraged in Scandinavian countries and recently in Canada. Yet, past research shows that longer legislated maternity leaves (i.e., 1 year and longer) may unintentionally harm women's career progress. To address this issue, we first sought to identify one potential mechanism underlying negative effects of longer legislated maternity leaves: others' lower perceptions of women's agency. Second, we utilize this knowledge to test interventions that boost others' perceptions of women's agency and thus mitigate negative effects of longer legislated maternity leaves. We test our hypotheses in three studies in the context of Canadian maternity leave policies. Specifically, in Study 1, we found that others' lower perceptions of women's agency mediated the negative effects of a longer legislated maternity leave, that is, 1 year (vs. shorter, i.e., 1 month maternity leave) on job commitment. In Study 2, we found that providing information about a woman's agency mitigates the unintended negative effects of a longer legislated maternity leave on job commitment and hireability. In Study 3, we showed that use of a corporate program that enables women to stay in touch with the workplace while on maternity leave (compared to conditions in which no such program was offered; a program was offered but not used by the applicant; and the program was offered, but there was no information about its usage by the applicant) enhances agency perceptions and perceptions of job commitment and hireability. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

A simplified Track Assembler I/O for the Muon Trigger Track Finder

CERN Document Server

Dallavalle, Gaetano-Marco; Genchev, Vladimir; Grandi, Claudio; Neumeister, Norbert; Porth, Paul; Rohringer, Herbert

1998-01-01

One of the architectural concerns in the present design of the Muon Trigger Track Finder ( MTTF) is the large number of inputs to the Track Assembler ( TA). In the TA block, input track segment pairs from many Extrapolation Units ( EU) are associated into tracks. The relative contribution of these inputs to the assembled tracks is studied with simulated track patterns for low and high pt muons over the entire eta, phi acceptance of the CMS barrel. A pruning of the EUs is proposed which does not alter the performance of the Track Finder and minimizes the interconnections between azimuthal wedges.

Social familiarity governs prey patch-exploitation, -leaving and inter-patch distribution of the group-living predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zach, Gernot J; Peneder, Stefan; Strodl, Markus A; Schausberger, Peter

2012-01-01

In group-living animals, social interactions and their effects on other life activities such as foraging are commonly determined by discrimination among group members. Accordingly, many group-living species evolved sophisticated social recognition abilities such as the ability to recognize familiar individuals, i.e. individuals encountered before. Social familiarity may affect within-group interactions and between-group movements. In environments with patchily distributed prey, group-living predators must repeatedly decide whether to stay with the group in a given prey patch or to leave and search for new prey patches and groups. Based on the assumption that in group-living animals social familiarity allows to optimize the performance in other tasks, as for example predicted by limited attention theory, we assessed the influence of social familiarity on prey patch exploitation, patch-leaving, and inter-patch distribution of the group-living, plant-inhabiting predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis. P. persimilis is highly specialized on herbivorous spider mite prey such as the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae, which is patchily distributed on its host plants. We conducted two experiments with (1) groups of juvenile P. persimilis under limited food on interconnected detached leaflets, and (2) groups of adult P. persimilis females under limited food on whole plants. Familiar individuals of both juvenile and adult predator groups were more exploratory and dispersed earlier from a given spider mite patch, occupied more leaves and depleted prey more quickly than individuals of unfamiliar groups. Moreover, familiar juvenile predators had higher survival chances than unfamiliar juveniles. We argue that patch-exploitation and -leaving, and inter-patch dispersion were more favorably coordinated in groups of familiar than unfamiliar predators, alleviating intraspecific competition and improving prey utilization and suppression.

Social familiarity governs prey patch-exploitation, -leaving and inter-patch distribution of the group-living predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gernot J Zach

Full Text Available In group-living animals, social interactions and their effects on other life activities such as foraging are commonly determined by discrimination among group members. Accordingly, many group-living species evolved sophisticated social recognition abilities such as the ability to recognize familiar individuals, i.e. individuals encountered before. Social familiarity may affect within-group interactions and between-group movements. In environments with patchily distributed prey, group-living predators must repeatedly decide whether to stay with the group in a given prey patch or to leave and search for new prey patches and groups.Based on the assumption that in group-living animals social familiarity allows to optimize the performance in other tasks, as for example predicted by limited attention theory, we assessed the influence of social familiarity on prey patch exploitation, patch-leaving, and inter-patch distribution of the group-living, plant-inhabiting predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis. P. persimilis is highly specialized on herbivorous spider mite prey such as the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae, which is patchily distributed on its host plants. We conducted two experiments with (1 groups of juvenile P. persimilis under limited food on interconnected detached leaflets, and (2 groups of adult P. persimilis females under limited food on whole plants. Familiar individuals of both juvenile and adult predator groups were more exploratory and dispersed earlier from a given spider mite patch, occupied more leaves and depleted prey more quickly than individuals of unfamiliar groups. Moreover, familiar juvenile predators had higher survival chances than unfamiliar juveniles.We argue that patch-exploitation and -leaving, and inter-patch dispersion were more favorably coordinated in groups of familiar than unfamiliar predators, alleviating intraspecific competition and improving prey utilization and suppression.

Solar tracking system

Science.gov (United States)

Okandan, Murat; Nielson, Gregory N.

2016-07-12

Solar tracking systems, as well as methods of using such solar tracking systems, are disclosed. More particularly, embodiments of the solar tracking systems include lateral supports horizontally positioned between uprights to support photovoltaic modules. The lateral supports may be raised and lowered along the uprights or translated to cause the photovoltaic modules to track the moving sun.

Maternity and family leave policies in rural family practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Mainguy, S; Crouse, B J

1998-09-01

To help recruit and retain physicians, especially women, rural family practice groups need to establish policies regarding maternity and other family leaves. Also important are policies regarding paternity leave, adoptive leave, and leave to care for elderly parents. We surveyed members of the American Academy of Family Physicians in rural practice in 1995 to assess the prevalence of leave policies, the degree to which physicians are taking family leave, and the characteristics of ideal policies. Currently, both men and women physicians are taking family leaves of absence, which indicates a need for leave policies. Furthermore, a lack of family leave policies may deter women from entering rural practice.

Prions and animal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juntes Polona

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs or prion diseases are a unique group of neurodegenerative diseases of animals and humans, which always have a fatal outcome and are transmissible among animals of the same or different species. Scope and Approach. The aim of this work is to review some recent data about animal TSEs, with the emphasis on their causative agents and zoonotic potential, and to discuss why the surveillance and control measures over animal TSEs should remain in force. Key Findings and Conclusions. We still have incomplete knowledge of prions and prion diseases. Scrapie has been present for a very long time and controlled with varied success. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE emerged unnoticed, and spread within a few years to epidemic proportions, entailing enormous economic consequences and public concerns. Currently, the classical BSE epidemic is under control, but atypical cases do, and probably will, persist in bovine populations. The Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD of the cervids has been spreading in North America and has recently been detected in Europe. Preventive measures for the control of classical BSE remain in force, including the feed ban and removal of specified risk materials. However, active BSE surveillance has considerably decreased. In the absence of such preventive and control measures, atypical BSE cases in healthy slaughtered bovines might persist in the human food chain, and BSE prions might resurface. Moreover, other prion strains might emerge and spread undetected if the appropriate preventive and surveillance measures were to cease, leaving behind inestimable consequences.

Seven Years after the Manifesto: Literature Review and Research Directions for Technologies in Animal Computer Interaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas

2018-06-01

Full Text Available As technologies diversify and become embedded in everyday lives, the technologies we expose to animals, and the new technologies being developed for animals within the field of Animal Computer Interaction (ACI are increasing. As we approach seven years since the ACI manifesto, which grounded the field within Human Computer Interaction and Computer Science, this thematic literature review looks at the technologies developed for (non-human animals. Technologies that are analysed include tangible and physical, haptic and wearable, olfactory, screen technology and tracking systems. The conversation explores what exactly ACI is whilst questioning what it means to be animal by considering the impact and loop between machine and animal interactivity. The findings of this review are expected to form the first grounding foundation of ACI technologies informing future research in animal computing as well as suggesting future areas for exploration.

Negotiating leave in the workplace

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bloksgaard, Lotte

In Denmark leave entitlement is not only regulated by law but is also part of the various collective agreements established in the respective occupational sectors and at the local workplace level. Consequently, Danish fathers have very different leave entitlements, depending on the sector, branch...

Negotiating leave in the workplace

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bloksgaard, Lotte

2014-01-01

In Denmark leave entitlement is not only regulated by law but is also part of the various collective agreements established in the respective occupational sectors and at the local workplace level. Consequently, Danish fathers have very different leave entitlements, depending on the sector, branch...

New statement of leave format

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2009-01-01

Following the communication of the Standing Concertation Committee published in Weekly Bulletin No. 18-19 of 27 April 2009, the current statement of leave on monthly pay slips has been replaced with the EDH Leave Transactions report that displays the up-to-date situation of individual leave balances at all times. The report is available on EDH. Additionally, the layout of the pay slip has been modernised. The new version of the pay slip will be send out from September 2009 onwards. Finance and Purchasing Department, Personnel Accounting Human Resources Department, Organisation and Procedures General Infrastructure Services Department, Administrative Information Services

Animal disease outbreak control: the use of crisis management tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Kroschewski, K; Kramer, M; Micklich, A; Staubach, C; Carmanns, R; Conraths, F J

2006-04-01

In this era of globalisation the effective control of animal disease outbreaks requires powerful crisis management tools. In the 1990s software packages for different sectors of the government and agricultural industry began to be developed. In 2004, as a special application for tracking the movement of animals and animal products, the European Union developed the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) on the basis of its predecessor, the ANImal MOvement (ANIMO) project. The nationwide use of the ANIMO system by the veterinary authorities in Germany marked the beginning of the development in 1993 of a computerised national animal disease reporting system--the TierSeuchenNachrichten (TSN)--using the ANIMO hardware and software components. In addition to TRACES and TSN the third pillar for the management of animal disease outbreaks and crises in Germany is the national cattle and swine database--called Herkunftssicherungs- und Informationssystem für Tiere. A high degree of standardisation is necessary when integrating the different solutions at all levels of government and with the private sector. In this paper, the authors describe the use of these tools on the basis of their experience and in relation to what we can do now and what we should opt for in the future.

Acute, subacute and subchronic toxicological studies of carissa carandas leaves (ethanol extract): a plant active against cardiovascular diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shamim, S.

2014-01-01

The Purpose of this research study was to examine the toxicological effects of aqueous: ethanol (1:1) extract of Carissa carandas leaves extracts in rats. Methodolgy: Acute toxicity studies were conducted to check the LD50 values in experimental animals. Autopsy after acute toxicity revealed that no gross changes were observed in organs like liver, spleen, heart and kidney among the animals of group N (control) and S (treated). The appearance of organs of Group S animals was comparable with that of Group N animals. Results: No signs of toxicity and mortality were observed in treated group after sub acute toxicity as compared to the control group. The histopathological studies after subchronic toxicity in doses of 1750 mg/kg (p.o.) and 5000 mg/kg (p.o) showed no toxic effects on organs like liver, heart, kidney and spleen. While chronic toxicity in dose 5000 mg/kg (p.o.) showed some histological changes. (author)

Effect of Artemisia annua L. leaves essential oil and ethanol extract on behavioral assays

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabio F. Perazzo

Full Text Available Artemisia annua has been used as a traditional plant for the treatment of malaria and fever in China because of the presence of its active compound, artemisinin. The present study evaluated the central activity of the essential oil and the crude ethanol extract of A. annua L. in animals as a part of a psychopharmacological screening of this plant. The extract was prepared in ethanol (AEE and the essential oil (AEO obtained by hydrodistillation, both with fresh leaves. Induced immobility, the forced swimming test (FST and the open-field test (OFT are well-known animal models to study drug-induced depression. The administration of A. annua essential oil or crude ethanol extract increased the immobility time in the FST and decreased other activities (ambulation, exploration, rearing and grooming in the OFT in animals. Both AEO and AEE prolonged pentobarbital-induced sleep as well, but the essential oil had a marked effect. Observing these results, it is possible to suggest that A. annua crude ethanol extract and essential oil could act as depressors on the Central Nervous System (CNS.

Low relative error in consumer-grade GPS units make them ideal for measuring small-scale animal movement patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Greg A. Breed

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Consumer-grade GPS units are a staple of modern field ecology, but the relatively large error radii reported by manufacturers (up to 10 m ostensibly precludes their utility in measuring fine-scale movement of small animals such as insects. Here we demonstrate that for data collected at fine spatio-temporal scales, these devices can produce exceptionally accurate data on step-length and movement patterns of small animals. With an understanding of the properties of GPS error and how it arises, it is possible, using a simple field protocol, to use consumer grade GPS units to collect step-length data for the movement of small animals that introduces a median error as small as 11 cm. These small error rates were measured in controlled observations of real butterfly movement. Similar conclusions were reached using a ground-truth test track prepared with a field tape and compass and subsequently measured 20 times using the same methodology as the butterfly tracking. Median error in the ground-truth track was slightly higher than the field data, mostly between 20 and 30 cm, but even for the smallest ground-truth step (70 cm, this is still a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1, and for steps of 3 m or more, the ratio is greater than 10:1. Such small errors relative to the movements being measured make these inexpensive units useful for measuring insect and other small animal movements on small to intermediate scales with budgets orders of magnitude lower than survey-grade units used in past studies. As an additional advantage, these units are simpler to operate, and insect or other small animal trackways can be collected more quickly than either survey-grade units or more traditional ruler/gird approaches.

Paid maternity and paternity leave: rights and choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Claire

2007-01-01

From April 2007 onwards, maternity leave will be raised to nine months Paid maternity leave is associated with significant health benefits for babies, including reduced infant mortality The Government proposes to increase paid maternity leave to one year and introduce additional paternity leave by around 2009 The U.K's provision for maternity leave and child care is more generous than the U.S.A. or Australia but less than in the Scandinavian countries

Early School Leaving in Scandinavia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Vibeke; Bäckman, Olof; Lorentzen, Thomas

2015-01-01

countries and find the highest vocational track dropout rates in Norway and the lowest in Finland. The results indicate that the relative labour market effect of dropping out from a vocational track is most detrimental in Norway. It is also in Norway that we find the greatest gender differences......The article explores the extent to which the organization of vocational tracks in upper secondary school affects the labour market risks associated with early school exit. The Nordic countries share many features, but the upper secondary school systems differ significantly in how their vocational...... tracks are organized. Denmark and Norway have dual vocational tracks, that is, they combine school-based education and workplace apprenticeships, whereas in Finland and Sweden they are primarily school based. We analyse administrative longitudinal data from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s in the four...

Internalization and Dissemination of Human Norovirus and Animal Caliciviruses in Hydroponically Grown Romaine Lettuce

Science.gov (United States)

DiCaprio, Erin; Ma, Yuanmei; Purgianto, Anastasia; Hughes, John

2012-01-01

Fresh produce is a major vehicle for the transmission of human norovirus (NoV) because it is easily contaminated during both pre- and postharvest stages. However, the ecology of human NoV in fresh produce is poorly understood. In this study, we determined whether human NoV and its surrogates can be internalized via roots and disseminated to edible portions of the plant. The roots of romaine lettuce growing in hydroponic feed water were inoculated with 1 × 106 RNA copies/ml of a human NoV genogroup II genotype 4 (GII.4) strain or 1 × 106 to 2 × 106 PFU/ml of animal caliciviruses (Tulane virus [TV] and murine norovirus [MNV-1]), and plants were allowed to grow for 2 weeks. Leaves, shoots, and roots were homogenized, and viral titers and/or RNA copies were determined by plaque assay and/or real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. For human NoV, high levels of viral-genome RNA (105 to 106 RNA copies/g) were detected in leaves, shoots, and roots at day 1 postinoculation and remained stable over the 14-day study period. For MNV-1 and TV, relatively low levels of infectious virus particles (101 to 103 PFU/g) were detected in leaves and shoots at days 1 and 2 postinoculation, but virus reached a peak titer (105 to 106 PFU/g) at day 3 or 7 postinoculation. In addition, human NoV had a rate of internalization comparable with that of TV as determined by real-time RT-PCR, whereas TV was more efficiently internalized than MNV-1 as determined by plaque assay. Taken together, these results demonstrated that human NoV and animal caliciviruses became internalized via roots and efficiently disseminated to the shoots and leaves of the lettuce. PMID:22729543

Causes and Consequences of a Father's Child Leave: Evidence from a Reform of Leave Schemes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Helena Skyt

are the most progressive when it comes to family-friendly policies. An extensive reform of child leave schemes in Denmark affected couples differently depending on whether the parents where employed in the same or in different parts of the public sector. Based on a difference-in-differences strategy, I find...... that economic incentives are very important for intra-household leave-sharing. Increasing the couples' after tax income by $9 per day of leave which is transferred from the mother to the father is found to lead to a one day transfer. This corresponds to a supply elasticity close to unity....

Pain and Laboratory Animals: Publication Practices for Better Data Reproducibility and Better Animal Welfare.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larry Carbone

publishing guidelines published in 2010 on PC or AC for the 150 mouse and rat articles in our 2014-15 dataset. None of the 302 articles that were silent about analgesic use included an explicit statement that analgesics were withheld, or a discussion of how pain management or untreated pain might affect results. We conclude that current scientific literature cannot be trusted to present full detail on use of animal anesthetics and analgesics. We report that publication guidelines focus more on other potential sources of bias in experimental results, under-appreciate the potential for pain and pain drugs to skew data, and thus mostly treat pain management as solely an animal welfare concern, in the jurisdiction of animal care and use committees. At the same time, animal welfare regulations do not include guidance on publishing animal data, even though publication is an integral part of the cycle of research and can affect the welfare of animals in studies building on published work, leaving it to journals and authors to voluntarily decide what details of animal use to publish. We suggest that journals, scientists and animal welfare regulators should revise current guidelines and regulations, on treatment of pain and on transparent reporting of treatment of pain, to improve this dual welfare and data-quality deficiency.

Pain and Laboratory Animals: Publication Practices for Better Data Reproducibility and Better Animal Welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Carbone, Larry; Austin, Jamie

2016-01-01

published in 2010 on PC or AC for the 150 mouse and rat articles in our 2014-15 dataset. None of the 302 articles that were silent about analgesic use included an explicit statement that analgesics were withheld, or a discussion of how pain management or untreated pain might affect results. We conclude that current scientific literature cannot be trusted to present full detail on use of animal anesthetics and analgesics. We report that publication guidelines focus more on other potential sources of bias in experimental results, under-appreciate the potential for pain and pain drugs to skew data, and thus mostly treat pain management as solely an animal welfare concern, in the jurisdiction of animal care and use committees. At the same time, animal welfare regulations do not include guidance on publishing animal data, even though publication is an integral part of the cycle of research and can affect the welfare of animals in studies building on published work, leaving it to journals and authors to voluntarily decide what details of animal use to publish. We suggest that journals, scientists and animal welfare regulators should revise current guidelines and regulations, on treatment of pain and on transparent reporting of treatment of pain, to improve this dual welfare and data-quality deficiency.

Influence of maternity leave on exclusive breastfeeding.

Science.gov (United States)

Monteiro, Fernanda R; Buccini, Gabriela Dos S; Venâncio, Sônia I; da Costa, Teresa H M

To describe the profile of women with children aged under 4 months living in the Brazilian state capitals and in the Federal District according to their working status and to analyze the influence of maternity leave on exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) among working women. This was a cross-sectional study with data extracted from the II National Maternal Breastfeeding Prevalence Survey carried out in 2008. Initially, a descriptive analysis of the profile of 12,794 women was performed, according to their working status and maternity leave and the frequency of maternity leave in the Brazilian regions and capitals. The study used a multiple model to identify the influence of maternity leave on EBF interruption, including 3766 women who declared they were working and were on maternity leave at the time of the interview. The outcome assessed in the study was the interruption of the EBF, classified by the WHO. Regarding the working status of the mothers, 63.4% did not work outside of their homes and among those who worked, 69.8% were on maternity leave. The largest prevalence among workers was of women older than 35 years of age, with more than 12 years of schooling, primiparous and from the Southeast and South regions. The lack of maternity leave increased by 23% the chance of EBF interruption. Maternity leave contributed to increase the prevalence of EBF in the Brazilian states capitals, supporting the importance of increasing the maternity leave period from four to six months. Copyright © 2017 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Influence of maternity leave on exclusive breastfeeding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernanda R. Monteiro

Full Text Available Abstract Objectives: To describe the profile of women with children aged under 4 months living in the Brazilian state capitals and in the Federal District according to their working status and to analyze the influence of maternity leave on exclusive breastfeeding (EBF among working women. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with data extracted from the II National Maternal Breastfeeding Prevalence Survey carried out in 2008. Initially, a descriptive analysis of the profile of 12,794 women was performed, according to their working status and maternity leave and the frequency of maternity leave in the Brazilian regions and capitals. The study used a multiple model to identify the influence of maternity leave on EBF interruption, including 3766 women who declared they were working and were on maternity leave at the time of the interview. The outcome assessed in the study was the interruption of the EBF, classified by the WHO. Results: Regarding the working status of the mothers, 63.4% did not work outside of their homes and among those who worked, 69.8% were on maternity leave. The largest prevalence among workers was of women older than 35 years of age, with more than 12 years of schooling, primiparous and from the Southeast and South regions. The lack of maternity leave increased by 23% the chance of EBF interruption. Conclusion: Maternity leave contributed to increase the prevalence of EBF in the Brazilian states capitals, supporting the importance of increasing the maternity leave period from four to six months.

A computer program TRACK_P for studying proton tracks in PADC detectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Nikezic

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A computer program for studying proton tracks in solid state nuclear track detectors was developed and described in this paper. The program was written in Fortran 90, with an additional tool for visualizing the track appearance as seen under the optical microscope in the transmission mode, which was written in the Python programming language. Measurable track parameters were determined and displayed in the application window and written in a data file. Three-dimensional representation of tracks was enabled. Examples of calculated tracks were also given in the present paper.

Bioluminescent system for dynamic imaging of cell and animal behavior

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hara-Miyauchi, Chikako [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8510 (Japan); Tsuji, Osahiko [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Hanyu, Aki [Division of Biochemistry, The Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo 135-8550 (Japan); Okada, Seiji [Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Yasuda, Akimasa [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Fukano, Takashi [Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Akazawa, Chihiro [Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8510 (Japan); Nakamura, Masaya [Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Imamura, Takeshi [Department of Molecular Medicine for Pathogenesis, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon, Ehime 791-0295 (Japan); Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, The Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Tokyo 135-8550 (Japan); Matsuzaki, Yumi [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Okano, Hirotaka James, E-mail: hjokano@jikei.ac.jp [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Division of Regenerative Medicine Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 150-8461 (Japan); and others

2012-03-09

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We combined a yellow variant of GFP and firefly luciferase to make ffLuc-cp156. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer ffLuc-cp156 showed improved photon yield in cultured cells and transgenic mice. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer ffLuc-cp156 enabled video-rate bioluminescence imaging of freely-moving animals. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer ffLuc-cp156 mice enabled tracking real-time drug delivery in conscious animals. -- Abstract: The current utility of bioluminescence imaging is constrained by a low photon yield that limits temporal sensitivity. Here, we describe an imaging method that uses a chemiluminescent/fluorescent protein, ffLuc-cp156, which consists of a yellow variant of Aequorea GFP and firefly luciferase. We report an improvement in photon yield by over three orders of magnitude over current bioluminescent systems. We imaged cellular movement at high resolution including neuronal growth cones and microglial cell protrusions. Transgenic ffLuc-cp156 mice enabled video-rate bioluminescence imaging of freely moving animals, which may provide a reliable assay for drug distribution in behaving animals for pre-clinical studies.

Bioluminescent system for dynamic imaging of cell and animal behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hara-Miyauchi, Chikako; Tsuji, Osahiko; Hanyu, Aki; Okada, Seiji; Yasuda, Akimasa; Fukano, Takashi; Akazawa, Chihiro; Nakamura, Masaya; Imamura, Takeshi; Matsuzaki, Yumi; Okano, Hirotaka James

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We combined a yellow variant of GFP and firefly luciferase to make ffLuc-cp156. ► ffLuc-cp156 showed improved photon yield in cultured cells and transgenic mice. ► ffLuc-cp156 enabled video-rate bioluminescence imaging of freely-moving animals. ► ffLuc-cp156 mice enabled tracking real-time drug delivery in conscious animals. -- Abstract: The current utility of bioluminescence imaging is constrained by a low photon yield that limits temporal sensitivity. Here, we describe an imaging method that uses a chemiluminescent/fluorescent protein, ffLuc-cp156, which consists of a yellow variant of Aequorea GFP and firefly luciferase. We report an improvement in photon yield by over three orders of magnitude over current bioluminescent systems. We imaged cellular movement at high resolution including neuronal growth cones and microglial cell protrusions. Transgenic ffLuc-cp156 mice enabled video-rate bioluminescence imaging of freely moving animals, which may provide a reliable assay for drug distribution in behaving animals for pre-clinical studies.

Sugarcane Molasse and Whey as Additives in the Silage of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus [DC.] Stapf) Leaves Melaza de Caña de Azúcar y Suero de Leche como Aditivos en el Ensilaje de Hojas de Zacate de Limón (Cymbopogon citratus [DC.] Stapf)

OpenAIRE

Lucía María Cristina Ventura-Canseco; José Alfredo Mendoza Nunez; Miguel Abud-Archila; Maria Ángela Oliva-Llaven; Luc Dendooven; Federico A. Gutiérrez-Miceli

2012-01-01

After extraction of essential oil from lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus [DC.] Stapf) leaves by steam distillation (heat treatment), large amounts of organic wastes are obtained. This by-product could easily be used as animal feed. The potential of sugarcane molasse and whey as additives to ensile lemongrass leaves was investigated. The vegetative material was obtained after essential oils were extracted from lemongrass leaves with steam distillation. Lemongrass leaves were chopped, mixed with ...

Non-sequential fruit tracking by birds along an altitudinal gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Hasui, Erica; Ramos, Flavio Nunes; Tamashiro, Jorge Yoshio; Silva, Wesley Rodrigues

2012-11-01

Despite landscape-level changes in fruit quantity, food resources may be constantly available to frugivorous animals if they track asynchronous fruit peaks. To investigate fruit availability patterns and their consequences on bird abundance, we tested for the occurrence of seasonal patterns in fruit production at three elevations (range 500-1000 m asl) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest over three years and compared these patterns among the elevations and years. Fruit production occurred throughout the year and showed only slight seasonality, and only at the two higher elevation sites. Contrary to expectation, fruiting peaks were neither predictable nor complementary. A few plant species (about 5%) contributed disproportionately to the high annual variation of fruit production in plant communities. We found no relationship between fruit production and bird capture rates of both generalist and specialist fruit eating species, suggesting that birds do not track fruit resources along the gradient, at least in some parts of the Atlantic Forest, or in some years. The apparent constancy of fruit availability probably does not stimulate birds to track to other elevations. In addition, plants with high annual variation in fruit production could be influencing and biasing our assessment of this relationship.

Computational Methods for Tracking, Quantitative Assessment, and Visualization of C. elegans Locomotory Behavior.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyle Moy

Full Text Available The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans provides a unique opportunity to interrogate the neural basis of behavior at single neuron resolution. In C. elegans, neural circuits that control behaviors can be formulated based on its complete neural connection map, and easily assessed by applying advanced genetic tools that allow for modulation in the activity of specific neurons. Importantly, C. elegans exhibits several elaborate behaviors that can be empirically quantified and analyzed, thus providing a means to assess the contribution of specific neural circuits to behavioral output. Particularly, locomotory behavior can be recorded and analyzed with computational and mathematical tools. Here, we describe a robust single worm-tracking system, which is based on the open-source Python programming language, and an analysis system, which implements path-related algorithms. Our tracking system was designed to accommodate worms that explore a large area with frequent turns and reversals at high speeds. As a proof of principle, we used our tracker to record the movements of wild-type animals that were freshly removed from abundant bacterial food, and determined how wild-type animals change locomotory behavior over a long period of time. Consistent with previous findings, we observed that wild-type animals show a transition from area-restricted local search to global search over time. Intriguingly, we found that wild-type animals initially exhibit short, random movements interrupted by infrequent long trajectories. This movement pattern often coincides with local/global search behavior, and visually resembles Lévy flight search, a search behavior conserved across species. Our mathematical analysis showed that while most of the animals exhibited Brownian walks, approximately 20% of the animals exhibited Lévy flights, indicating that C. elegans can use Lévy flights for efficient food search. In summary, our tracker and analysis software will help analyze the

Childcare and the division of parental leave

OpenAIRE

Norén, Anna

2015-01-01

Despite several policies aimed at increasing fathers' participation in the caring of children, Swedish mothers still use the bulk of the paid parental leave which may have several negative consequences for the family e.g. in terms of weaker labor market attachment for the mother. Division of parental leave is likely affected by how parents value the costs associated with parental leave. I investigate whether a reduction in the care burden, or a decreased non-monetary cost, of parental leave t...

Antihyperglycemic activities of leaves of three edible fruit plants (Averrhoa carambola, Ficus hispida and Syzygium samarangense) of Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahreen, Shejuty; Banik, Joyanta; Hafiz, Abdul; Rahman, Shahnaz; Zaman, Anahita Tanzia; Shoyeb, Md Abu; Chowdhury, Majeedul H; Rahmatullah, Mohammed

2012-01-01

Averrhoa carambola L. (Oxalidaceae), Ficus hispida L.f. (Moraceae), and Syzygium samarangense (Blume) Merr. & L.M. Perry (Myrtaceae) are three common plants in Bangladesh, the fruits of which are edible. The leaves and fruits of A. carambola and F. hispida are used by folk medicinal practitioners for treatment of diabetes, while the leaves of S. samarangense are used for treatment of cold, itches, and waist pain. Since scientific studies are absent on the antihyperglycemic effects of the leaves of the three plants, it was the objective of the present study to evaluate the antihyperglycemic potential of methanolic extract of leaves of the plants in oral glucose tolerance tests carried out with glucose-loaded mice. The extracts at different doses were administered one hour prior to glucose administration and blood glucose level was measured after two hours of glucose administration (p.o.) using glucose oxidase method. Significant oral hypoglycemic activity was found with the extracts of leaves of all three plants tested. The fall in serum glucose levels were dose-dependent for every individual plant, being highest at the highest dose tested of 400 mg extract per kg body weight. At this dose, the extracts of A. carambola, F. hispida, and S. samarangense caused, respectively, 34.1, 22.7, and 59.3% reductions in serum glucose levels when compared to control animals. The standard antihyperglycemic drug, glibenclamide, caused a 57.3% reduction in serum glucose levels versus control. Among the three plants evaluated, the methanolic extract of leaves of S. samarangense proved to be the most potent in demonstrating antihyperglycemic effects. The result validates the folk medicinal uses of A. carambola and F. hispida in the treatment of diabetes, and indicates that the leaves of S. samarangense can also possibly be used for amelioration of diabetes-induced hyperglycemia.

Effects of acute administration of the hydroalcoholic extract of mate tea leaves (Ilex paraguariensis) in animal models of learning and memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Prediger, Rui D S; Fernandes, Marcelo S; Rial, Daniel; Wopereis, Sandro; Pereira, Vitor S; Bosse, Tamara S; Da Silva, Camila B; Carradore, Renata S; Machado, Marina S; Cechinel-Filho, Valdir; Costa-Campos, Luciane

2008-12-08

Ilex paraguariensis St. Hilaire (Aquifoliaceae) is a plant widely cultivated in South America that is used to prepare a tea-like beverage with a reputation to improve cognitive function, a response that has been attributed to the constituents of the leaves, especially caffeine. Our previous study indicated that the hydroalcoholic extract of Ilex paraguariensis presents an antiparkinsonian profile in reserpine- and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine hydrochloride (MPTP)-treated rodents. In the present study, the effects of the hydroalcoholic extract of Ilex paraguariensis on the short- and long-term learning and memory of rats were assessed with the social recognition, Morris water maze, and step-down inhibitory avoidance tasks. A preliminary HPLC fingerprint of the plant extract confirmed the presence of caffeine (the major compound), rutin and kaemperol, and revealed the absence of detectable concentrations of caffeic acid, quercetin and ursolic acid. Acute pre-training intraperitoneal (i.p.) or oral administration of the extract of Ilex paraguariensis improved the short-term social memory in a specific manner as well as facilitated the step-down inhibitory avoidance short-term memory evaluated 1.5h after training. Moreover, a synergistic response was observed following the co-administration of 'non-effective' doses of caffeine and Ilex paraguariensis in the social memory. In contrast, pre-training administration of hydroalcoholic extract of Ilex paraguariensis did not alter the step-down inhibitory avoidance long-term memory evaluated 24h after training, while the highest dose tested (250 mg/kg, i.p.) disrupted the animals' performance in a cued version of the Morris water maze. These results partly substantiate the traditional use of mate tea for improvement of cognition indicating that acute administration of hydroalcoholic extract of Ilex paraguariensis differentially modulates short- and long-term learning and memory in rats probably through its

Why People Leave Their Jobs?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis R. Domínguez A.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article aims to show the results of the review of literature of relevant studies of the causal elements of intention to leave in the last five years (2009-2013. The method used to evaluate the literature was based on the seven steps for research synthesis: problem formulation, literature search, obtaining information from studies, quality assessment studies, analysis and integration of results, interpretation of evidence and presentation of results. 48 studies from 15 different countries with a sample of 35804 employees of different companies were evaluated. The findings suggest the existence of 89 different variables influencing the intention to leave of employees in an organization. The results of this study will allow researchers to better understand the variables that can be studied to verify the impact of variables such as causal elements, but also see those that have a mediating effect between them for predicting intention to leave as an element of employee turnover. This study makes three important contributions to literature of turnover. First, in this study all the parameters associated with the intention to leave were checked. Second, this study categorizes and displays in proportion relevant interests to the scientific community whom studying employee turnover across the intention to leave. And thirdly provides clues organizations to improve some of its structural and contextual features to control turnover.

The Length of Maternity Leave and Family Health

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beuchert-Pedersen, Louise Voldby; Humlum, Maria Knoth; Vejlin, Rune Majlund

We study the relationship between the length of maternity leave and the physical and psychological health of the family. Using a reform of the parental leave scheme in Denmark that increased the number of weeks of leave with full benefit compensation, we estimate the effect of the lenght...... of maternity leave on a range of health indicators including the number of hospital admissions for both mother and child and the probability of the mother receiving antidepressants. The reform led to an increase in average post-birth maternity leave matters for child or maternal health outcomes and thus we...... complement the existing evidence on maternity leave expansions that tends to find limited effects on children's later deveopmental, educational, and labor market outcomes. Our results suggest that any beneficial effects of increasing the lenght of maternity leave are greater for low-resource families....

The CCCTB Rules on Leaving a Group

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Streek, J.

2012-01-01

The consolidation system proposed in the draft of the CCCTB Directive puts relationships between Member States on edge. This is clearly apparent in the rules that apply when a company leaves a group. In this article the leaving rules are examined. Although the leaving rules are claimed to be

On the Sharing of Temporary Parental Leave

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amilon, Anna

2007-01-01

This paper views temporary parental leave (leave from work to take care of a sick child) as a household public good, produced with time inputs of the parents as the only input. Assuming equal productivities in the production of temporary parental leave and equal utility functions of the spouses...

Kalman Filter Track Fits and Track Breakpoint Analysis

CERN Document Server

Astier, Pierre; Cousins, R D; Letessier-Selvon, A A; Popov, B A; Vinogradova, T G; Astier, Pierre; Cardini, Alessandro; Cousins, Robert D.; Letessier-Selvon, Antoine; Popov, Boris A.; Vinogradova, Tatiana

2000-01-01

We give an overview of track fitting using the Kalman filter method in the NOMAD detector at CERN, and emphasize how the wealth of by-product information can be used to analyze track breakpoints (discontinuities in track parameters caused by scattering, decay, etc.). After reviewing how this information has been previously exploited by others, we describe extensions which add power to breakpoint detection and characterization. We show how complete fits to the entire track, with breakpoint parameters added, can be easily obtained from the information from unbroken fits. Tests inspired by the Fisher F-test can then be used to judge breakpoints. Signed quantities (such as change in momentum at the breakpoint) can supplement unsigned quantities such as the various chisquares. We illustrate the method with electrons from real data, and with Monte Carlo simulations of pion decays.

[Beneficial effect of maternity leave on delivery].

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Qian; Séguin, Louise; Goulet, Lise

2002-01-01

To identify the contribution of the duration of the prenatal maternity leave on term delivery. Characteristics of the prenatal maternity leave and delivery among 363 working women who had delivered a full-term infant at 1 of 4 hospitals in Montreal during 1996 were studied. The presence of an intervention or complication during delivery was observed in 68.9% of the participants. The average duration of the prenatal maternity leave was about 8 weeks (SD = 7). The adjusted risk of a difficult delivery decreased significantly with the duration of the prenatal maternity leave (OR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93-0.99). The duration of the maternity leave before delivery is associated with an easier term delivery for working women.

[New cerebroside from leaves of pineapple].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jin-Ping; Wang, Hong-Ying; Du, Li-Jun; Ding, Yi; Xing, Dong-Ming; Wang, Wei

2007-03-01

To study the chemical constituents of the leaves of pineapple. Chromatographic methods were used to isolate compounds from the leaves of pineapple and spectral methods were used to identify the structures of the isolated compounds. Compound 1 was isolated from the leaves of pineapple. It was identified as 1-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S, 3R, 4E, 11E)-2-[(2(R)-hydroxydocosanoyl) amido]-4, 11-hexadecanediene-1, 3-diol. Compound 1 was a new compound.

Framework conditions for tracking electricity in Europe. E-TRACK WP2 report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lise, W.; Boots, M.G.; De Joode, J.; Ten Donkelaar, M.; Timpe, C.; Vrolijk, C.

2006-03-01

The analysis of this report shows that context matters for tracking generation attributes. On the one hand, there are factors that enable the introduction of tracking, like previous experiences with green certificates. Some Member States have already gained experience with tracking generation attributes, which is required to disclose the generation mix to the consumer. On the other hand, there are factors that are making the introduction of tracking generation attributes in Europe more difficult, like the widely varying initiatives among Member States with respect to legislation on GOs and disclosure. Also the market conditions can be of influence. The varying degree of market opening matters, because the usefulness of tracking is lower in a market where a customer cannot switch among suppliers. The amount of electricity traded makes it difficult to link generation to consumption under contract-based tracking, while this is of no concern under certificate-based tracking. One of the ways towards overcoming the aforementioned barriers is harmonisation of schemes for tracking generation attributes

The Building Blocks of Life Move from Ground to Tree to Animal and Back to Ground

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, E. A.

2015-12-01

I generally use combinations of big words to describe my science, such as biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, nutrient cycling, stoichiometry, tropical deforestation, land-use change, agricultural intensification, eutrophication, greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainable development. I didn't expect to use any of these words, but I was surprised that I couldn't use some others that seem simple enough to me, such as farm, plant, soil, and forest. I landed on "building blocks" as my metaphor for the forms of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements that I study as they cycle through and among ecosystems. I study what makes trees and other kinds of life grow. We all know that they need the sun and that they take up water from the ground, but what else do trees need from the ground? What do animals that eat leaves and wood get from the trees? Just as we need building blocks to grow our bodies, trees and animals also need building blocks for growing their bodies. Trees get part of their building blocks from the ground and animals get theirs from what they eat. When animals poop and when leaves fall, some of their building blocks return to the ground. When they die, their building blocks also go back to the ground. I also study what happens to the ground, the water, and the air when we cut down trees, kill or shoo away the animals, and make fields to grow our food. Can we grow enough food and still keep the ground, water, and air clean? I think the answer is yes, but it will take better understanding of how all of those building blocks fit together and move around, from ground to tree to animal and back to ground.

Virtual Character Animation Based on Affordable Motion Capture and Reconfigurable Tangible Interfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamberti, Fabrizio; Paravati, Gianluca; Gatteschi, Valentina; Cannavo, Alberto; Montuschi, Paolo

2018-05-01

Software for computer animation is generally characterized by a steep learning curve, due to the entanglement of both sophisticated techniques and interaction methods required to control 3D geometries. This paper proposes a tool designed to support computer animation production processes by leveraging the affordances offered by articulated tangible user interfaces and motion capture retargeting solutions. To this aim, orientations of an instrumented prop are recorded together with animator's motion in the 3D space and used to quickly pose characters in the virtual environment. High-level functionalities of the animation software are made accessible via a speech interface, thus letting the user control the animation pipeline via voice commands while focusing on his or her hands and body motion. The proposed solution exploits both off-the-shelf hardware components (like the Lego Mindstorms EV3 bricks and the Microsoft Kinect, used for building the tangible device and tracking animator's skeleton) and free open-source software (like the Blender animation tool), thus representing an interesting solution also for beginners approaching the world of digital animation for the first time. Experimental results in different usage scenarios show the benefits offered by the designed interaction strategy with respect to a mouse & keyboard-based interface both for expert and non-expert users.

Compassionate Care Leave & Benefits. CAUT Briefing Note

Science.gov (United States)

Canadian Association of University Teachers, 2016

2016-01-01

Compassionate care leave and benefits were introduced in 2003/04 to help employees cope with this difficult work-life balance challenge. Employment Standards legislation and the Employment Insurance program (EI) were amended to provide leave without pay, with payment of EI benefits for compassionate care leave. Collective agreements have been…

48 CFR 752.7031 - Leave and holidays.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... States (less language training) and the actual days overseas beginning on the date of departure from the.... (e) Military leave. Military leave of not more than 15 calendar days in any calendar year may be... such military leave has been approved in advance by the cognizant Mission Director or Assistant...

STTARR: a radiation treatment and multi-modal imaging facility for fast tracking novel agent development in small animal models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeung, Ivan; McKee, Trevor; Jaffray, David; Hill, Richard

2014-01-01

Small animal models play a pivotal role in the pipeline development of novel agents and strategies in personalized cancer therapy. The Spatio-Temporal Targeting and Amplification of Radiation Response Program (STTARR) consists of an animal imaging and precision radiation facility designed to provide innovative biologic imaging and targeted radiation treatment strategies in small animals. The design is to mirror the imaging and radiation treatment facility in a modern cancer center. The STTARR features imaging equipment of small animal scale including CT, MRI, PET, SPECT, Optical devices as well as image guided irradiators. The fleet of imaging and irradiation equipment provides a platform for identification of biological targets of the specific molecular pathways that influence both tumor progression and a patient's response to radiation therapy. Examples will be given in the utilization of the imaging facilities for development in novel approaches in cancer therapy including a PET-FAZA study for hypoxia measurement in a pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenograft model. In addition, the cone-beam image guided small animal irradiator developed at our institute will also be described. The animal platform (couch) provides motion in 3 dimensions to position the animal to the isocentre of the beam. A pair of rotational arms supporting the X-ray/detector pair enables acquisition of cone-beam images of the animal which give rise to image guided precision of 0.5 mm. The irradiation energy ranges from 50 to 225 kVp at a dose rate from 10-400 cGy/min. The gantry is able to direct X-ray beam of different directions to give conformal radiation treatment to the animal. A dedicated treatment planning system is able to perform treatment planning and provide commonly used clinical metrics in the animal treatment plan. Examples will be given to highlight the use of the image guided irradiator for research of drug/irradiation regimen in animal models. (author)

78 FR 8833 - The Family and Medical Leave Act

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-06

... creates a new qualifying exigency leave category for parental care. In military caregiver leave, the Final... covered employers to take job- protected, unpaid leave, or to substitute appropriate accrued paid leave... CFR Part 825 The Family and Medical Leave Act; Final Rule #0;#0;Federal Register / Vol. 78 , No. 25...

The Motus Wildlife Tracking System: a collaborative research network to enhance the understanding of wildlife movement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philip D. Taylor

2017-06-01

Full Text Available We describe a new collaborative network, the Motus Wildlife Tracking System (Motus; https://motus.org, which is an international network of researchers using coordinated automated radio-telemetry arrays to study movements of small flying organisms including birds, bats, and insects, at local, regional, and hemispheric scales. Radio-telemetry has been a cornerstone of tracking studies for over 50 years, and because of current limitations of geographic positioning systems (GPS and satellite transmitters, has remained the primary means to track movements of small animals with high temporal and spatial precision. Automated receivers, along with recent miniaturization and digital coding of tags, have further improved the utility of radio-telemetry by allowing many individuals to be tracked continuously and simultaneously across broad landscapes. Motus is novel among automated arrays in that collaborators employ a single radio frequency across receiving stations over a broad geographic scale, allowing individuals to be detected at sites maintained by others. Motus also coordinates, disseminates, and archives detections and associated metadata in a central repository. Combined with the ability to track many individuals simultaneously, Motus has expanded the scope and spatial scale of research questions that can be addressed using radio-telemetry from local to regional and even hemispheric scales. Since its inception in 2012, more than 9000 individuals of over 87 species of birds, bats, and insects have been tracked, resulting in more than 250 million detections. This rich and comprehensive dataset includes detections of individuals during all phases of the annual cycle (breeding, migration, and nonbreeding, and at a variety of spatial scales, resulting in novel insights into the movement behavior of small flying animals. The value of the Motus network will grow as spatial coverage of stations and number of partners and collaborators increases. With

EVALUATION OF THE LEAVE AND BUD DECOCTIONS PINUS HALEPENSIS MILL EFFECTS ON THE INDUCED-PHENOL RENAL TOXICITY IN WISTAR RATS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Berroukche

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Pinus halepensis M. (Pinaceae has done object many indications in traditional medicine. Several studies have demonstrated a protective activity of essential oils extracted from various plant species against renal toxicity induced by chemicals in the animal model. The objective of this study is to assess the anti toxic effects of decocted leaves and buds of Pinus halepensis M. on Wistar rats initially exposed to phenol C6H5OH (180 mg / kg body weight. The results of laboratory analyzes of biochemical parameters revealed that decocted leaves and buds (250 mg / kg body weight have shown a highly significant antitoxic activity (p < 0,001. The protective effect of decocted leaves and buds were respectively expressed by a decrease in serum concentrations of biochemical markers urea ( 0,32 and 0,28 g/l and creatinine ( 121 & 13,8 g / l and electrolyte Calcium ( 89,8 & 109,5 g / l , Potassium ( 7 & 6,6 g / l and Sodium ( 130,5 & 129,6 g / l .

Watch out for the leaves!

CERN Multimedia

HSE Unit

2013-01-01

Now that autumn is here, dead leaves falling from the trees form a colourful carpet that is pleasing to the eye. However, the reality is less pleasant for pedestrians, since these leaves increase the risk of slipping and falling, especially when the ground is wet.   These conditions are also hazardous for two- and four-wheeled vehicles, whose grip on the ground can be severely reduced, thereby increasing the risk of them skidding out of control. Cyclists are among the most vulnerable road users when faced with these hazards. It is therefore essential to be alert to the dangers, which can be lessened by taking a few simple precautions such as moderating your speed and wearing suitable shoes. We also invite you to notify the Service Desk if you notice a road or pavement where there is a high concentration of dead leaves. The CERN Roads and Drainage Service will then ensure that the leaves are cleared in order to reduce the risk of accidents in the area.

5 CFR 630.1206 - Notice of leave.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... medical treatment, the employee shall provide notice to the agency of his or her intention to take leave... placement or planned medical treatment requires leave to begin within 30 calendar days, the employee shall... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Notice of leave. 630.1206 Section 630...

Tracks: Nurses and the Tracking Network

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2012-06-06

This podcast highlights the utility of the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network for nurses in a variety of work settings. It features commentary from the American Nurses Association and includes stories from a public health nurse in Massachusetts.  Created: 6/6/2012 by National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)/Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects (DEHHE)/Environmental Health Tracking Branch (EHTB).   Date Released: 6/6/2012.

Decontaminate feature for tracking: adaptive tracking via evolutionary feature subset

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qiaoyuan; Wang, Yuru; Yin, Minghao; Ren, Jinchang; Li, Ruizhi

2017-11-01

Although various visual tracking algorithms have been proposed in the last 2-3 decades, it remains a challenging problem for effective tracking with fast motion, deformation, occlusion, etc. Under complex tracking conditions, most tracking models are not discriminative and adaptive enough. When the combined feature vectors are inputted to the visual models, this may lead to redundancy causing low efficiency and ambiguity causing poor performance. An effective tracking algorithm is proposed to decontaminate features for each video sequence adaptively, where the visual modeling is treated as an optimization problem from the perspective of evolution. Every feature vector is compared to a biological individual and then decontaminated via classical evolutionary algorithms. With the optimized subsets of features, the "curse of dimensionality" has been avoided while the accuracy of the visual model has been improved. The proposed algorithm has been tested on several publicly available datasets with various tracking challenges and benchmarked with a number of state-of-the-art approaches. The comprehensive experiments have demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed methodology.

Phenolic acids profiling and antioxidant potential of mulberry (Morus laevigata W., Morus nigra L., Morus alba L.) leaves and fruits grown in Pakistan

Science.gov (United States)

Mulberry trees are distributed throughout Pakistan. Besides the use of mulberry in forage and food for animals, it is also used as herbal medicine. The ojbective of this study was to determine phenolic acids profile, sugar content, and the antioxidant activity of the leaves and fruits of three mulb...

Bioluminescence : the potential of a non-invasive bio-optical imaging technique and improvement of animal research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hesselink, J. W.; van Dam, G. M.

2007-01-01

Bioluminescence is an optical imaging technique that exploits the emission of photons at specific wavelengths based on energy-dependent reactions catalysed by luciferases. The technique makes it possible to monitor measure, and track biological processes in living animals. A short review is

Elastic tracking versus neural network tracking for very high multiplicity problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harlander, M.; Gyulassy, M.

1991-04-01

A new Elastic Tracking (ET) algorithm is proposed for finding tracks in very high multiplicity and noisy environments. It is based on a dynamical reinterpretation and generalization of the Radon transform and is related to elastic net algorithms for geometrical optimization. ET performs an adaptive nonlinear fit to noisy data with a variable number of tracks. Its numerics is more efficient than that of the traditional Radon or Hough transform method because it avoids binning of phase space and the costly search for valid minima. Spurious local minima are avoided in ET by introducing a time-dependent effective potential. The method is shown to be very robust to noise and measurement error and extends tracking capabilities to much higher track densities than possible via local road finding or even the novel Denby-Peterson neural network tracking algorithms. 12 refs., 2 figs

Leaving the hospital - your discharge plan

Science.gov (United States)

... patientinstructions/000867.htm Leaving the hospital - your discharge plan To use the sharing features on this page, ... once you leave. This is called a discharge plan. Your health care providers at the hospital will ...

University Students Leaving Relationships (USLR): Scale Development and Gender Differences in Decisions to Leave Romantic Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Hendy, Helen M.; Can, S. Hakan; Joseph, Lauren J.; Scherer, Cory R.

2013-01-01

The University Students Leaving Relationships scale was developed to identify student concerns when contemplating dissolution of romantic relationships. Participants included 1,106 students who rated the importance of issues when deciding to leave relationships. Factor analysis produced three dimensions: Missing the Relationship, Social…

Self-Funded Leave and Life Role Development

Science.gov (United States)

Furbish, Dale S.

2009-01-01

Self-funded leave is an employee benefit that provides a time resource to those who wish to develop interests and other life roles. Semistructured interviews were used for this qualitative study to explore the motivations for enrolling in the self-funded leave program, how the leave contributed to work-life balance through development of other…

Magnetic Orientation in Birds and Other Animals

Science.gov (United States)

Wiltschko, Wolfgang

The use of the geomagnetic field for compass orientation is widespread among animals, with two types of magnetic compass mechanisms described: an shape inclination compass in birds, turtles and salamanders and a shape polarity compass in arthropods, fishes and mammals. Additionally, some vertebrates appear to derive positional information from the total intensity and/or inclination of the geomagnetic field. For magnetoreception by animals, two models are currently discussed, the shape Radical Pair model assuming light-dependent processes by specialized photopigments, and the shape Magnetite hypothesis proposing magnetoreception by crystals of magnetite, Fe304. Behavioral experiments with migratory birds, testing them under monochromatic lights and subjecting them to a brief, strong pulse that could reverse the magnetization of magnetite particles, produced evidence for both mechanisms. However, monochromatic lights affect old, experienced and young birds alike, whereas the pulse affects only experienced birds, leaving young, inexperienced birds unaffected. These observations suggest that a radical pair mechanism provides birds with directional information for their innate magnetic compass and a magnetite-based mechanism possibly mediates information about total intensity for indicating position.

TRAVEL AND HOME LEAVE

CERN Multimedia

Human Resources Division

2002-01-01

Administrative procedures for : Travel to the home station and home leave (hl) Additional travel to the home station (at) Travel to the home station and home leave for family reasons (hlf) As part of the process of simplifying administrative procedures, HR and AS Divisions have devised a new, virtually automatic procedure for payment of travel expenses to the home station. The changes are aimed at rationalising administrative procedures and not at reducing benefits. The conditions of eligibility are unchanged. The new procedure, which will be operational with effect from 1st June 2002, will greatly simplify the administrative processing of claims for travel expenses and the recording of home leaves. Currently, requests for payment are introduced manually into the Advances and Claims system (AVCL) by divisional secretariats. All travel to the home station starting prior to 1st June 2002 will be processed according to the existing system whereas that starting on 1st June and after will be processed accordi...

Neural network tracking and extension of positive tracking periods

Science.gov (United States)

Hanan, Jay C.; Chao, Tien-Hsin; Moreels, Pierre

2004-04-01

Feature detectors have been considered for the role of supplying additional information to a neural network tracker. The feature detector focuses on areas of the image with significant information. Basically, if a picture says a thousand words, the feature detectors are looking for the key phrases (keypoints). These keypoints are rotationally invariant and may be matched across frames. Application of these advanced feature detectors to the neural network tracking system at JPL has promising potential. As part of an ongoing program, an advanced feature detector was tested for augmentation of a neural network based tracker. The advance feature detector extended tracking periods in test sequences including aircraft tracking, rover tracking, and simulated Martian landing. Future directions of research are also discussed.

Genotoxicity of Nicotiana tabacum leaves on Helix aspersa.

Science.gov (United States)

da Silva, Fernanda R; Erdtmann, Bernardo; Dalpiaz, Tiago; Nunes, Emilene; Ferraz, Alexandre; Martins, Tales L C; Dias, Johny F; da Rosa, Darlan P; Porawskie, Marilene; Bona, Silvia; da Silva, Juliana

2013-07-01

Tobacco farmers are routinely exposed to complex mixtures of inorganic and organic chemicals present in tobacco leaves. In this study, we examined the genotoxicity of tobacco leaves in the snail Helix aspersa as a measure of the risk to human health. DNA damage was evaluated using the micronucleus test and the Comet assay and the concentration of cytochrome P450 enzymes was estimated. Two groups of snails were studied: one fed on tobacco leaves and one fed on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L) leaves (control group). All of the snails received leaves (tobacco and lettuce leaves were the only food provided) and water ad libitum. Hemolymph cells were collected after 0, 24, 48 and 72 h. The Comet assay and micronucleus test showed that exposure to tobacco leaves for different periods of time caused significant DNA damage. Inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes occurred only in the tobacco group. Chemical analysis indicated the presence of the alkaloid nicotine, coumarins, saponins, flavonoids and various metals. These results show that tobacco leaves are genotoxic in H. aspersa and inhibit cytochrome P450 activity, probably through the action of the complex chemical mixture present in the plant.

Genotoxicity of Nicotiana tabacum leaves on Helix aspersa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernanda R. da Silva

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Tobacco farmers are routinely exposed to complex mixtures of inorganic and organic chemicals present in tobacco leaves. In this study, we examined the genotoxicity of tobacco leaves in the snail Helix aspersa as a measure of the risk to human health. DNA damage was evaluated using the micronucleus test and the Comet assay and the concentration of cytochrome P450 enzymes was estimated. Two groups of snails were studied: one fed on tobacco leaves and one fed on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L leaves (control group. All of the snails received leaves (tobacco and lettuce leaves were the only food provided and water ad libitum. Hemolymph cells were collected after 0, 24, 48 and 72 h. The Comet assay and micronucleus test showed that exposure to tobacco leaves for different periods of time caused significant DNA damage. Inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes occurred only in the tobacco group. Chemical analysis indicated the presence of the alkaloid nicotine, coumarins, saponins, flavonoids and various metals. These results show that tobacco leaves are genotoxic in H. aspersa and inhibit cytochrome P450 activity, probably through the action of the complex chemical mixture present in the plant.

The Habituation/Cross-Habituation Test Revisited: Guidance from Sniffing and Video Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Coronas-Samano

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The habituation/cross-habituation test (HaXha is a spontaneous odor discrimination task that has been used for many decades to evaluate olfactory function in animals. Animals are presented repeatedly with the same odorant after which a new odorant is introduced. The time the animal explores the odor object is measured. An animal is considered to cross-habituate during the novel stimulus trial when the exploration time is higher than the prior trial and indicates the degree of olfactory patency. On the other hand, habituation across the repeated trials involves decreased exploration time and is related to memory patency, especially at long intervals. Classically exploration is timed using a stopwatch when the animal is within 2 cm of the object and aimed toward it. These criteria are intuitive, but it is unclear how they relate to olfactory exploration, that is, sniffing. We used video tracking combined with plethysmography to improve accuracy, avoid observer bias, and propose more robust criteria for exploratory scoring when sniff measures are not available. We also demonstrate that sniff rate combined with proximity is the most direct measure of odorant exploration and provide a robust and sensitive criterion.

Cultivation, Genetic, Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Moringa oleifera Leaves: An Overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Leone, Alessandro; Spada, Alberto; Battezzati, Alberto; Schiraldi, Alberto; Aristil, Junior; Bertoli, Simona

2015-06-05

Moringa oleifera is an interesting plant for its use in bioactive compounds. In this manuscript, we review studies concerning the cultivation and production of moringa along with genetic diversity among different accessions and populations. Different methods of propagation, establishment and cultivation are discussed. Moringa oleifera shows diversity in many characters and extensive morphological variability, which may provide a resource for its improvement. Great genetic variability is present in the natural and cultivated accessions, but no collection of cultivated and wild accessions currently exists. A germplasm bank encompassing the genetic variability present in Moringa is needed to perform breeding programmes and develop elite varieties adapted to local conditions. Alimentary and medicinal uses of moringa are reviewed, alongside the production of biodiesel. Finally, being that the leaves are the most used part of the plant, their contents in terms of bioactive compounds and their pharmacological properties are discussed. Many studies conducted on cell lines and animals seem concordant in their support for these properties. However, there are still too few studies on humans to recommend Moringa leaves as medication in the prevention or treatment of diseases. Therefore, further studies on humans are recommended.

Marine mammal tracks from two-hydrophone acoustic recordings made with a glider

Science.gov (United States)

Küsel, Elizabeth T.; Munoz, Tessa; Siderius, Martin; Mellinger, David K.; Heimlich, Sara

2017-04-01

A multinational oceanographic and acoustic sea experiment was carried out in the summer of 2014 off the western coast of the island of Sardinia, Mediterranean Sea. During this experiment, an underwater glider fitted with two hydrophones was evaluated as a potential tool for marine mammal population density estimation studies. An acoustic recording system was also tested, comprising an inexpensive, off-the-shelf digital recorder installed inside the glider. Detection and classification of sounds produced by whales and dolphins, and sometimes tracking and localization, are inherent components of population density estimation from passive acoustics recordings. In this work we discuss the equipment used as well as analysis of the data obtained, including detection and estimation of bearing angles. A human analyst identified the presence of sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) regular clicks as well as dolphin clicks and whistles. Cross-correlating clicks recorded on both data channels allowed for the estimation of the direction (bearing) of clicks, and realization of animal tracks. Insights from this bearing tracking analysis can aid in population density estimation studies by providing further information (bearings), which can improve estimates.

Evidence for a shared representation of sequential cues that engage sign-tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Smedley, Elizabeth B; Smith, Kyle S

2018-06-19

Sign-tracking is a phenomenon whereby cues that predict rewards come to acquire their own motivational value (incentive salience) and attract appetitive behavior. Typically, sign-tracking paradigms have used single auditory, visual, or lever cues presented prior to a reward delivery. Yet, real world examples of events often can be predicted by a sequence of cues. We have shown that animals will sign-track to multiple cues presented in temporal sequence, and with time develop a bias in responding toward a reward distal cue over a reward proximal cue. Further, extinction of responding to the reward proximal cue directly decreases responding to the reward distal cue. One possible explanation of this result is that serial cues become representationally linked with one another. Here we provide further support of this by showing that extinction of responding to a reward distal cue directly reduces responding to a reward proximal cue. We suggest that the incentive salience of one cue can influence the incentive salience of the other cue. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Parental leave for residents and pediatric training programs.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-01

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is committed to the development of rational, equitable, and effective parental leave policies that are sensitive to the needs of pediatric residents, families, and developing infants and that enable parents to spend adequate and good-quality time with their young children. It is important for each residency program to have a policy for parental leave that is written, that is accessible to residents, and that clearly delineates program practices regarding parental leave. At a minimum, a parental leave policy for residents and fellows should conform legally with the Family Medical Leave Act as well as with respective state laws and should meet institutional requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for accredited programs. Policies should be well formulated and communicated in a culturally sensitive manner. The AAP advocates for extension of benefits consistent with the Family Medical Leave Act to all residents and interns beginning at the time that pediatric residency training begins. The AAP recommends that regardless of gender, residents who become parents should be guaranteed 6 to 8 weeks, at a minimum, of parental leave with pay after the infant's birth. In addition, in conformance with federal law, the resident should be allowed to extend the leave time when necessary by using paid vacation time or leave without pay. Coparenting, adopting, or fostering of a child should entitle the resident, regardless of gender, to the same amount of paid leave (6-8 weeks) as a person who takes maternity/paternity leave. Flexibility, creativity, and advanced planning are necessary to arrange schedules that optimize resident education and experience, cultivate equity in sharing workloads, and protect pregnant residents from overly strenuous work experiences at critical times of their pregnancies.

[Teacher sick leave: Prevalence, duration, reasons and covariates].

Science.gov (United States)

Vercambre-Jacquot, M-N; Gilbert, F; Billaudeau, N

2018-02-01

Absences from work have considerable social and economic impact. In the education sector, the phenomenon is particularly worrying since teacher sick leave has an impact on the overall performance of the education system. Yet, available data are scarce. In April-June 2013, 2653 teachers responded to a population-based postal survey on their quality of life (enquête Qualité de vie des enseignants, MGEN Foundation/Ministry of education, response rate 53 %). Besides questions on work environment and health, teachers were asked to describe their eventual sick leave(s) since the beginning of the school year: duration, type and medical reasons. Self-reported information was reinforced by administrative data from ministerial databases and weighted to be extrapolated to all French teachers. Tobit models adjusted for individual factors of a private nature were used to investigate different occupational risk factors of teacher sick leave, taking into account both the estimated effect on the probability of sick leave and the length of it. More than one in three teachers (36 %) reported having had at least one day of sick leave since the beginning of the school year. Respiratory/ENT diseases were the leading reason for sick leave (37 %). However, and because sick leave duration depended on the underlying health problem, such diseases came in third place among justifications of sick leave days (14 %), far behind musculoskeletal problems (27 %) and neurological and psychological disorders (25 %). Tobit models suggested that some occupational factors significantly associated with the risk of sick leave may represent promising preventive targets, including high psychological demand, workplace violence and unfavorable socio-environmental context. Our study provides objective evidence about the issue of sick leave among French teachers, highlighting the usefulness of implementing actions to minimize its weight. To this end, the study findings point-out the importance of

An insight of environmental contamination of arsenic on animal health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paramita Mandal

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The main threats to human health from heavy metals are associated with exposure to lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. Exposure to arsenic is mainly via intake of food and drinking water, food being the most important source in most populations. Although adverse health effects of heavy metals have been known for a long time, exposure to heavy metals continues and is even increasing in some areas. Long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking-water is mainly related to increased risks of skin cancer, but also some other cancers, as well as other skin lesions such as hyperkeratosis and pigmentation changes. Therefore, measures should be taken to reduce arsenic exposure in the general population in order to minimize the risk of adverse health effects. Animal are being exposed to arsenic through contaminated drinking water, feedstuff, grasses, vegetables and different leaves. Arsenic has been the most common causes of inorganic chemical poisoning in farm animals. Although, sub-chronic and chronic exposure of arsenic do not generally reveal external signs or symptoms in farm animals but arsenic (or metabolites concentrations in blood, hair, hoofs and urine are remained high in animals of arsenic contaminated zones. So it is assumed that concentration of arsenic in blood, urine, hair or milk have been used as biomarkers of arsenic exposure in field animals.

A biplanar X-ray approach for studying the 3D dynamics of human track formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatala, Kevin G; Perry, David A; Gatesy, Stephen M

2018-05-09

Recent discoveries have made hominin tracks an increasingly prevalent component of the human fossil record, and these data have the capacity to inform long-standing debates regarding the biomechanics of hominin locomotion. However, there is currently no consensus on how to decipher biomechanical variables from hominin tracks. These debates can be linked to our generally limited understanding of the complex interactions between anatomy, motion, and substrate that give rise to track morphology. These interactions are difficult to study because direct visualization of the track formation process is impeded by foot and substrate opacity. To address these obstacles, we developed biplanar X-ray and computer animation methods, derived from X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology (XROMM), to analyze the 3D dynamics of three human subjects' feet as they walked across four substrates (three deformable muds and rigid composite panel). By imaging and reconstructing 3D positions of external markers, we quantified the 3D dynamics at the foot-substrate interface. Foot shape, specifically heel and medial longitudinal arch deformation, was significantly affected by substrate rigidity. In deformable muds, we found that depths measured across tracks did not directly reflect the motions of the corresponding regions of the foot, and that track outlines were not perfectly representative of foot size. These results highlight the complex, dynamic nature of track formation, and the experimental methods presented here offer a promising avenue for developing and refining methods for accurately inferring foot anatomy and gait biomechanics from fossil hominin tracks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of etched nuclear tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.

1980-01-01

The theoretical description of the evolution of etched tracks in solid state nuclear track detectors is considered for different initial conditions, for the cases of constant and varying track etch rates, isotropic and anisotropic bulk etching as well as for thick and thin detectors. It is summarized how one can calculate the main parameters of etch-pit geometry, the track length, the axes of a surface track opening, track profile and track contour. The application of the theory of etch-track evolution is demonstrated with selected practical problems. Attention is paid to certain questions related to the determination of unknown track parameters and calculation of surface track sizes. Finally, the theory is extended to the description of the perforation and etch-hole evolution process in thin detectors, which is of particular interest for track radiography and nuclear filter production. (orig.)

Development of etched nuclear tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.

1979-01-01

The theoretical description of the evolution of etched tracks in solid state nuclear track detectors is considered for different initial conditions, for the cases of constant and varying track etch rates, isotopic and unisotropic bulk etching as well as for thick and thin detectors. It is summarized how the main parameters of etch-pit geometry, the track length, the axes of a surface track opening, the track profile and the track contour can be calculated. The application of the theory of etch-track evolution is demonstrated with selected practical problems. Attention is paid to certain questions related to the determination of unknown track parameters and calculation of surface track sizes. Finally, the theory is extended to the description of the perforation and etch-hole evolution process in thin detectors, which is of particular interest for track radiography and nuclear filter production. (author)

KOLAM: a cross-platform architecture for scalable visualization and tracking in wide-area imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Joshua; Haridas, Anoop; Seetharaman, Guna; Rao, Raghuveer M.; Palaniappan, Kannappan

2013-05-01

KOLAM is an open, cross-platform, interoperable, scalable and extensible framework supporting a novel multi- scale spatiotemporal dual-cache data structure for big data visualization and visual analytics. This paper focuses on the use of KOLAM for target tracking in high-resolution, high throughput wide format video also known as wide-area motion imagery (WAMI). It was originally developed for the interactive visualization of extremely large geospatial imagery of high spatial and spectral resolution. KOLAM is platform, operating system and (graphics) hardware independent, and supports embedded datasets scalable from hundreds of gigabytes to feasibly petabytes in size on clusters, workstations, desktops and mobile computers. In addition to rapid roam, zoom and hyper- jump spatial operations, a large number of simultaneously viewable embedded pyramid layers (also referred to as multiscale or sparse imagery), interactive colormap and histogram enhancement, spherical projection and terrain maps are supported. The KOLAM software architecture was extended to support airborne wide-area motion imagery by organizing spatiotemporal tiles in very large format video frames using a temporal cache of tiled pyramid cached data structures. The current version supports WAMI animation, fast intelligent inspection, trajectory visualization and target tracking (digital tagging); the latter by interfacing with external automatic tracking software. One of the critical needs for working with WAMI is a supervised tracking and visualization tool that allows analysts to digitally tag multiple targets, quickly review and correct tracking results and apply geospatial visual analytic tools on the generated trajectories. One-click manual tracking combined with multiple automated tracking algorithms are available to assist the analyst and increase human effectiveness.

Late adolescents' conceptualizations of home-leaving.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, D; Hotch, D F

1981-02-01

Separation from the family, a key developmental task, has received scant attention from developmentalists. In this study, college students' dissimilarity ratings and ratings on 22 bipolar adjective scales were obtained for a set of 20 definitions of home-leaving. Results of a cluster analysis revealed that conceptualizations of the definitions are organized in terms of eight clusters. Ratings on the 22 adjective scales provided an empirical means for interpreting the typological structure of the home-leaving definitions. Convergence the results of this inductive study of home-leaving and elements of ego development theory was noted.

Sampling strong tracking nonlinear unscented Kalman filter and its application in eye tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zu-Tao, Zhang; Jia-Shu, Zhang

2010-01-01

The unscented Kalman filter is a developed well-known method for nonlinear motion estimation and tracking. However, the standard unscented Kalman filter has the inherent drawbacks, such as numerical instability and much more time spent on calculation in practical applications. In this paper, we present a novel sampling strong tracking nonlinear unscented Kalman filter, aiming to overcome the difficulty in nonlinear eye tracking. In the above proposed filter, the simplified unscented transform sampling strategy with n + 2 sigma points leads to the computational efficiency, and suboptimal fading factor of strong tracking filtering is introduced to improve robustness and accuracy of eye tracking. Compared with the related unscented Kalman filter for eye tracking, the proposed filter has potential advantages in robustness, convergence speed, and tracking accuracy. The final experimental results show the validity of our method for eye tracking under realistic conditions. (classical areas of phenomenology)

Naturally etched tracks in apatites and the correction of fission track dating

CERN Document Server

Tien, J L

1999-01-01

Naturally etched tracks have been found in apatites from the rapid cooled, high-level Kunon pluton in the Zhangzhou Igneous Complex, SE China. This is manifested by the fact that the apatite fission track (FT) age derived from conventional counting of spontaneous and induced tracks yields a result of 140.6+-6.5 Ma, which is much older than the ages determined using other methods on different minerals from the same rock. When tracks are observed after etching the polished inner sections of the apatite grains, the naturally etched tracks characterized by having hazy boundaries can be distinguished from the normal tracks with sharp boundaries. The age obtained by omitting these fading-resistant hazy tracks, 76.5+-4.0 Ma, indicates the time of the Kunon pluton cooling down to approx 100 deg. C. The corrected peak age (73.8 Ma) is consistent with the other apatite FT peak ages (79.2 to 70.2 Ma) of the nearly contemporaneous plutons in the same igneous complex.

EXPLORING THE DESIGN AND USE OF MOLECULAR ANIMATIONS THAT CONFLICT FOR UNDERSTANDING CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Resa M. Kelly

Full Text Available Understanding chemical reactions conceptually involves recognizing characteristics of observable phenomena and envisioning how atoms, ions and molecules move and interact to cause the macroscopic changes. Our research focuses on the development of effective strategies for designing and presenting visualizations (videos and animations to assist students with making connections between macroscopic and molecular level behaviors of chemical reactions. Specifically, we study how students, who view videos of a redox reaction that exhibits obvious signs of macroscopic chemical change, can determine which molecular animation of a set of contrasting animations is best supported by its fit with experimental evidence. Herein we describe how we develop our videos and animations, and how students are learning from this animation task. Students who select inaccurate animation models are often enticed by a model that is easier to explain and fits with their understanding of reaction equations. We note that even though students indicate a preference for one animation over another, they often revise their drawn representations to fit with features from multiple animations. With the assistance of eye tracking research, we are gaining a better understanding of what students view and how they make sense of it.

Sign tracking, but not goal tracking, is resistant to outcome devaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara E. Morrison

2015-12-01

Full Text Available During Pavlovian conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (CS may act as a predictor of a reward to be delivered in another location. Individuals vary widely in their propensity to engage with the CS (sign tracking or with the site of eventual reward (goal tracking. It is often assumed that sign tracking involves the association of the CS with the motivational value of the reward, resulting in the CS acquiring incentive value independent of the outcome. However, experimental evidence for this assumption is lacking. In order to test the hypothesis that sign tracking behavior does not rely on a neural representation of the outcome, we employed a reward devaluation procedure. We trained rats on a classic Pavlovian paradigm in which a lever CS was paired with a sucrose reward, then devalued the reward by pairing sucrose with illness in the absence of the CS. We found that sign tracking behavior was enhanced, rather than diminished, following reward devaluation; thus, sign tracking is clearly independent of a representation of the outcome. In contrast, goal tracking behavior was decreased by reward devaluation. Furthermore, when we divided rats into those with high propensity to engage with the lever (sign trackers and low propensity to engage with the lever (goal trackers, we found that nearly all of the effects of devaluation could be attributed to the goal trackers. These results show that sign tracking and goal tracking behavior may be the output of different associative structures in the brain, providing insight into the mechanisms by which reward-associated stimuli – such as drug cues – come to exert control over behavior in some individuals.

Sign Tracking, but Not Goal Tracking, is Resistant to Outcome Devaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Sara E.; Bamkole, Michael A.; Nicola, Saleem M.

2015-01-01

During Pavlovian conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (CS) may act as a predictor of a reward to be delivered in another location. Individuals vary widely in their propensity to engage with the CS (sign tracking) or with the site of eventual reward (goal tracking). It is often assumed that sign tracking involves the association of the CS with the motivational value of the reward, resulting in the CS acquiring incentive value independent of the outcome. However, experimental evidence for this assumption is lacking. In order to test the hypothesis that sign tracking behavior does not rely on a neural representation of the outcome, we employed a reward devaluation procedure. We trained rats on a classic Pavlovian paradigm in which a lever CS was paired with a sucrose reward, then devalued the reward by pairing sucrose with illness in the absence of the CS. We found that sign tracking behavior was enhanced, rather than diminished, following reward devaluation; thus, sign tracking is clearly independent of a representation of the outcome. In contrast, goal tracking behavior was decreased by reward devaluation. Furthermore, when we divided rats into those with high propensity to engage with the lever (sign trackers) and low propensity to engage with the lever (goal trackers), we found that nearly all of the effects of devaluation could be attributed to the goal trackers. These results show that sign tracking and goal tracking behavior may be the output of different associative structures in the brain, providing insight into the mechanisms by which reward-associated stimuli—such as drug cues—come to exert control over behavior in some individuals. PMID:26733783

The Problems of Parental Leave.

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Sean

2017-10-01

The United States is the only major industrialized country in the world to not require paid parental leave. Numerous studies have shown that allowing parents time with a newborn makes the child and the parents healthier, both physically and mentally. Many physicians, especially those who work in practices with five or fewer doctors, worry about how to pay for parental leave for themselves and their staff.

Tracking of Nuclear Production using Indigenous Species: Final LDRD Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alam, Todd Michael; Alam, Mary Kathleen; McIntyre, Sarah K.; Volk, David; Neerathilingam, Muniasamy; Luxon, Bruce A.; Ansari, G. A. Shakeel

2009-01-01

Our LDRD research project sought to develop an analytical method for detection of chemicals used in nuclear materials processing. Our approach is distinctly different than current research involving hardware-based sensors. By utilizing the response of indigenous species of plants and/or animals surrounding (or within) a nuclear processing facility, we propose tracking 'suspicious molecules' relevant to nuclear materials processing. As proof of concept, we have examined TBP, tributylphosphate, used in uranium enrichment as well as plutonium extraction from spent nuclear fuels. We will compare TBP to the TPP (triphenylphosphate) analog to determine the uniqueness of the metabonomic response. We show that there is a unique metabonomic response within our animal model to TBP. The TBP signature can further be delineated from that of TPP. We have also developed unique methods of instrumental transfer for metabonomic data sets.

Tracking of Nuclear Production using Indigenous Species: Final LDRD Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alam, Todd Michael [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Electronic and Nanostructured Materials; Alam, Mary Kathleen [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Energetics Characterization Dept.; McIntyre, Sarah K. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Electronic and Nanostructured Materials; Volk, David [Univ. of Texas, Galveston, TX (United States). Medical Branch; Neerathilingam, Muniasamy [Univ. of Texas, Galveston, TX (United States). Medical Branch; Luxon, Bruce A. [Univ. of Texas, Galveston, TX (United States). Medical Branch; Ansari, G. A. Shakeel [Univ. of Texas, Galveston, TX (United States). Medical Branch

2009-10-01

Our LDRD research project sought to develop an analytical method for detection of chemicals used in nuclear materials processing. Our approach is distinctly different than current research involving hardware-based sensors. By utilizing the response of indigenous species of plants and/or animals surrounding (or within) a nuclear processing facility, we propose tracking 'suspicious molecules' relevant to nuclear materials processing. As proof of concept, we have examined TBP, tributylphosphate, used in uranium enrichment as well as plutonium extraction from spent nuclear fuels. We will compare TBP to the TPP (triphenylphosphate) analog to determine the uniqueness of the metabonomic response. We show that there is a unique metabonomic response within our animal model to TBP. The TBP signature can further be delineated from that of TPP. We have also developed unique methods of instrumental transfer for metabonomic data sets.

A novel strong tracking finite-difference extended Kalman filter for nonlinear eye tracking

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHANG ZuTao; ZHANG JiaShu

2009-01-01

Non-Intrusive methods for eye tracking are Important for many applications of vision-based human computer interaction. However, due to the high nonlinearity of eye motion, how to ensure the robust-ness of external interference and accuracy of eye tracking poses the primary obstacle to the integration of eye movements into today's interfaces. In this paper, we present a strong tracking finite-difference extended Kalman filter algorithm, aiming to overcome the difficulty In modeling nonlinear eye tracking. In filtering calculation, strong tracking factor is introduced to modify a priori covariance matrix and im-prove the accuracy of the filter. The filter uses finite-difference method to calculate partial derivatives of nonlinear functions for eye tracking. The latest experimental results show the validity of our method for eye tracking under realistic conditions.

A hidden Markov model for reconstructing animal paths from solar geolocation loggers using templates for light intensity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rakhimberdiev, E.; Winkler, D.W.; Bridge, E.; Seavy, N.E.; Sheldon, D.; Piersma, T.; Saveliev, A.

2015-01-01

Background: Solar archival tags (henceforth called geolocators) are tracking devices deployed on animals to reconstructtheir long-distance movements on the basis of locations inferred post hoc with reference to the geographical andseasonal variations in the timing and speeds of sunrise and sunset.

Range measurements and track kinetics in Dielectric Nuclear Track Detectors (DNTDs)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aframian, A

1981-01-01

Observations of nuclear track development profiles and the kinetics of etched tracks in sensitive dielectric nuclear track detectors indicate three separate phases: the inception phase or the cone phase, the transition phase and the sphere phase. Continued etching of the sphere phase to through-tracks yields accurate range data for particles of different masses and energies and minimum critical angles of registration for each particle. The present results show an energy resolution of 40 keV (fwhm) for 5.48 MeV alpha-particles emitted from Am-241.

Multisensory integration for odor tracking by flying Drosophila: Behavior, circuits and speculation

OpenAIRE

Duistermars, Brian J; Frye, Mark A

2010-01-01

Many see fruit flies as an annoyance, invading our homes with a nagging persistence and efficiency. Yet from a scientific perspective, these tiny animals are a wonder of multisensory integration, capable of tracking fragmented odor plumes amidst turbulent winds and constantly varying visual conditions. The peripheral olfactory, mechanosensory, and visual systems of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, have been studied in great detail;1–4 however, the mechanisms by which fly brains integra...

The dewetting properties of lotus leaves.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jihua; Sheng, Xianliang; Jiang, Lei

2009-02-03

The high dewetting abilities of lotus leaves can be transited to a complete wetting state by soaking the leaves in water at a depth of 50 cm for 2 h. However, after being dried by N2 gas, the high dewetting behavior of lotus leaves may be mostly restored. This indicates that experimental procedure might considerably affect the dewetting abilities of lotus leaves. To discover the mechanism underlying this interesting dewetting phenomena, the dewetting force was used to characterize the dewetting abilities of surfaces, and model studies to mimic the papillae were done. Surface hydrophobicity, sizes, rise angles, and secondary structures of the models' sides affected their dewetting force with water. So we suggested that the dewetting states, Cassie or Wenzel's state, of lotus surfaces depend much on the depth of water, i.e., the hydraulic pressure. On the other hand, the primary structures of papillae in Cassie's state led to a high receding angle with respect to the plane of the leaf during the dewetting measurement. The secondary structures and micro/nano arrays of papillae increased the dewetting abilities of lotus leaves, since no water intruded between papillae. However, the structures of papillae in Wenzle's state significantly reduced the dewetting abilities of lotus leaves after being soaked at a depth of 50 cm for 2 h. Therefore, as for novel designs of microdevices floating on water, including the use of the high dewetting properties of suphydrophobic materials, surface (primary or secondary) microstructure and external pressure, such as static hydraulic pressure, must be taken into account.

The impact of paternity leave on fathers' future earnings.

Science.gov (United States)

Rege, Mari; Solli, Ingeborg F

2013-12-01

Using Norwegian registry data, we investigate the effect of paternity leave on fathers' long-term earnings. If the paternity leave increased long-term father involvement, then we should expect a reduction in fathers' long-term earnings as they shift time and effort from market to home production. For identification, we use the Norwegian introduction of a paternity-leave quota in 1993, reserving four weeks of the total of 42 weeks of paid parental leave exclusively for the father. The introduction of the paternity-leave quota led to a sharp increase in rates of leave-taking for fathers. We estimate a difference-in-differences model that exploits differences in fathers' exposure to the paternity-leave quota by the child's age and year of observation. Our analysis suggests that four weeks of paternity leave during the child's first year decreases fathers' future earnings, an effect that persists through our last point of observation, when the child is 5 years old. A battery of robustness tests supports our results.

Large scale tracking algorithms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansen, Ross L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Love, Joshua Alan [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Melgaard, David Kennett [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Karelitz, David B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Pitts, Todd Alan [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Zollweg, Joshua David [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Anderson, Dylan Z. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Nandy, Prabal [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Whitlow, Gary L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Bender, Daniel A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Byrne, Raymond Harry [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-01-01

Low signal-to-noise data processing algorithms for improved detection, tracking, discrimination and situational threat assessment are a key research challenge. As sensor technologies progress, the number of pixels will increase signi cantly. This will result in increased resolution, which could improve object discrimination, but unfortunately, will also result in a significant increase in the number of potential targets to track. Many tracking techniques, like multi-hypothesis trackers, suffer from a combinatorial explosion as the number of potential targets increase. As the resolution increases, the phenomenology applied towards detection algorithms also changes. For low resolution sensors, "blob" tracking is the norm. For higher resolution data, additional information may be employed in the detection and classfication steps. The most challenging scenarios are those where the targets cannot be fully resolved, yet must be tracked and distinguished for neighboring closely spaced objects. Tracking vehicles in an urban environment is an example of such a challenging scenario. This report evaluates several potential tracking algorithms for large-scale tracking in an urban environment.

Manual versus Automated Rodent Behavioral Assessment: Comparing Efficacy and Ease of Bederson and Garcia Neurological Deficit Scores to an Open Field Video-Tracking System

OpenAIRE

Fiona A. Desland; Aqeela Afzal; Zuha Warraich; J Mocco

2014-01-01

Animal models of stroke have been crucial in advancing our understanding of the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia. Currently, the standards for determining neurological deficit in rodents are the Bederson and Garcia scales, manual assessments scoring animals based on parameters ranked on a narrow scale of severity. Automated open field analysis of a live-video tracking system that analyzes animal behavior may provide a more sensitive test. Results obtained from the manual Bederson and Garc...

77 FR 8959 - The Family and Medical Leave Act

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-15

...; and extends FMLA military caregiver leave to family members of certain veterans with serious injuries... Medical Leave Act of 1993, Final Rule on November 17, 2008 (2008 final rule). 73 FR 67934. A. What the... covered servicemember (referred to as ``military caregiver leave''). These two leave entitlements are...

Evaluation of antihyperglycaemic activity of Calotropis procera leaves extract on streptozotocin-induced diabetes in Wistar rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mário C. L. Neto

Full Text Available Calotropis procera (Aiton W.T.Aiton,Apocynaceae, popularly known as "algodão-de-seda", is a wild African bush, rich in bioactive substances that determine the medicinal potential of this species. Diabetes mellitus is a disease that affects about 10% of the population. This study aimed to evaluate the antihyperglycaemic activity of the hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves of C. procera of occurrence in coast of Pernambuco, Brazil. The hydroalcholic extract of the leaves of C. procera (300 and 600 mg/kg/day, vehicle, insulin (6U, s.c. or metformin (500 mg/ kg/day were administered orally to streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (n = 7/group for four weeks. Changes in body weight, food and water intake, biochemical markers, fasting glucose levels and oral glucose tolerance test were evaluated. The results showed that the C. procera dried extract (300 and 600 mg/kg reduced significantly the level of blood glucose throughout the evaluation period and improved metabolic status of the animals and ameliorate the oral tolerance glucose test. The phytochemical screening revealed and quantified the presence of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in a percentage of 29.1 and 2.9%, respectively. Thus, we conclude that the extract of the leaves of C. procera has antihyperglycemic activity.

An Internatioal Comparison and Assessment of Maternity Leave Regulation

OpenAIRE

Dorothea Alewell, Kerstin Pull

2001-01-01

Provisions for maternity leave are common among industrialized countries, but their institutional design varies distinctly from country to country. Developing our theory on the impact on maternity leave regulations on women's labor market situation, we argue that a woman on leave creates a re-organization problem for her employer. The costs of re-organization will not simply increase with the duration of maternity leave, but display a hump-shaped curvature which peeks at medium-leave duration...

Quantization-Based Adaptive Actor-Critic Tracking Control With Tracking Error Constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Quan-Yong; Yang, Guang-Hong; Ye, Dan

2018-04-01

In this paper, the problem of adaptive actor-critic (AC) tracking control is investigated for a class of continuous-time nonlinear systems with unknown nonlinearities and quantized inputs. Different from the existing results based on reinforcement learning, the tracking error constraints are considered and new critic functions are constructed to improve the performance further. To ensure that the tracking errors keep within the predefined time-varying boundaries, a tracking error transformation technique is used to constitute an augmented error system. Specific critic functions, rather than the long-term cost function, are introduced to supervise the tracking performance and tune the weights of the AC neural networks (NNs). A novel adaptive controller with a special structure is designed to reduce the effect of the NN reconstruction errors, input quantization, and disturbances. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, the boundedness of the closed-loop signals and the desired tracking performance can be guaranteed. Finally, simulations on two connected inverted pendulums are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Making tracks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1986-10-15

In many modern tracking chambers, the sense wires, rather than being lined up uniformly, are grouped into clusters to facilitate the pattern recognition process. However, with higher energy machines providing collisions richer in secondary particles, event reconstruction becomes more complicated. A Caltech / Illinois / SLAC / Washington group developed an ingenious track finding and fitting approach for the Mark III detector used at the SPEAR electron-positron ring at SLAC (Stanford). This capitalizes on the detector's triggering, which uses programmable logic circuits operating in parallel, each 'knowing' the cell patterns for all tracks passing through a specific portion of the tracker (drift chamber)

Multisensor Distributed Track Fusion AlgorithmBased on Strong Tracking Filter and Feedback Integration1）

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

YANGGuo-Sheng; WENCheng-Lin; TANMin

2004-01-01

A new multisensor distributed track fusion algorithm is put forward based on combiningthe feedback integration with the strong tracking Kalman filter. Firstly, an effective tracking gateis constructed by taking the intersection of the tracking gates formed before and after feedback.Secondly, on the basis of the constructed effective tracking gate, probabilistic data association andstrong tracking Kalman filter are combined to form the new multisensor distributed track fusionalgorithm. At last, simulation is performed on the original algorithm and the algorithm presented.

Part-Time Sick Leave as a Treatment Method?

OpenAIRE

Andrén D; Andrén T

2009-01-01

This paper analyzes the effects of being on part-time sick leave compared to full-time sick leave on the probability of recovering (i.e., returning to work with full recovery of lost work capacity). Using a discrete choice one-factor model, we estimate mean treatment parameters and distributional treatment parameters from a common set of structural parameters. Our results show that part-time sick leave increases the likelihood of recovering and dominates full-time sick leave for sickness spel...

The Length of Maternity Leave and Family Health

OpenAIRE

Beuchert, Louise Voldby; Humlum, Maria Knoth; Vejlin, Rune Majlund

2014-01-01

We study the relationship between the length of maternity leave and the physical and psychological health of the family. Using a reform of the parental leave scheme in Denmark that increased the number of weeks of leave with full benefit compensation,we estimate the effect of the length of maternity leave on a range of health indicators including the number of hospital admissions for both mother and child and the probability of the mother receiving antidepressants. The reform led to an increa...

Animal welfare: an animal science approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Koknaroglu, H; Akunal, T

2013-12-01

Increasing world population and demand for animal-derived protein puts pressure on animal production to meet this demand. For this purpose animal breeding efforts were conducted to obtain the maximum yield that the genetic makeup of the animals permits. Under the influence of economics which is the driving force behind animal production, animal farming became more concentrated and controlled which resulted in rearing animals under confinement. Since more attention was given on economics and yield per animal, animal welfare and behavior were neglected. Animal welfare which can be defined as providing environmental conditions in which animals can display all their natural behaviors in nature started gaining importance in recent years. This does not necessarily mean that animals provided with good management practices would have better welfare conditions as some animals may be distressed even though they are in good environmental conditions. Consumers are willing to pay more for welfare-friendly products (e.g.: free range vs caged egg) and this will change the animal production practices in the future. Thus animal scientists will have to adapt themselves for the changing animal welfare rules and regulations that differ for farm animal species and countries. In this review paper, animal welfare is discussed from an animal science standpoint. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Track finding and track reconstruction in the internal forward drift chamber of SAPHIR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Umlauf, G.

1993-03-01

A track finding algorithm has been developed for the inner forward drift chamber of the SAPHIR detector (at ELSA in Bonn) using the Principal Components Analysis as a tool for interpolating track coordinates. The drift chamber consists of twelve planar layers with six different inclinations and is being operated in an inhomogenous magnetic field. The task of track finding is basicly split into a primary stage that defines track candidates without the use of drift-time information and a second stage that serves to verify the track candidate and to resolve the intrinsic left-right ambiguities of the drift chamber signals. Tracks with at most three missing signals can be found. (orig.) [de

Properties of leaves particleboard for sheathing application

Science.gov (United States)

Nuryawan, Arif; Rahmawaty

2018-03-01

Manufacturing particleboard (PB) made of leaves was carried out to make non-structural building components, such as insulation, partition, wall, and sheathing. Raw materials used dry leaves originated from plantation (palm oil leaves) and forest plantation (magahony leaves). The adhesive used was interior type thermosetting commercial resins, namely 10% urea-formaldehyde (UF) based on oven dry leaves. Hardener used for UF resin was 1% and 3% ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) 20% (w/w), respectively. Technically, the target density of PB was 0.8 g/cm3 with the dimension’s size of (250 x 250 x 10) mm3. The pressure, temperature, and time of pressing of the hot press were 25 kgf/cm2, 120C, and 10 minutes, respectively. After conditioning for one week, the PB then was evaluated their physical and mechanical properties according to Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) A 5908 (2003). Results of this work showed: 1) Both types of PB (palm oil and mahagony leaves) were feasible to be produced for non-structural applications; 2) Addition of hardener enhanced the physical and mechanical properties of PB; 3) It was recommended to enhance the performance of the PB by manipulation of the raw materials and the design.

Office design's impact on sick leave rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Bodin Danielsson, Christina; Chungkham, Holendro Singh; Wulff, Cornelia; Westerlund, Hugo

2014-01-01

The effect of office type on sickness absence among office employees was studied prospectively in 1852 employees working in (1) cell-offices; (2) shared-room offices; (3) small, (4) medium-sized and (5) large open-plan offices; (6) flex-offices and (7) combi-offices. Sick leaves were self-reported two years later as number of (a) short and (b) long (medically certified) sick leave spells as well as (c) total number of sick leave days. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used, with adjustment for background factors. A significant excess risk for sickness absence was found only in terms of short sick leave spells in the three open-plan offices. In the gender separate analysis, this remained for women, whereas men had a significantly increased risk in flex-offices. For long sick leave spells, a significantly higher risk was found among women in large open-plan offices and for total number of sick days among men in flex-offices. A prospective study of the office environment's effect on employees is motivated by the high rates of sick leaves in the workforce. The results indicate differences between office types, depending on the number of people sharing workspace and the opportunity to exert personal control as influenced by the features that define the office types.

[Gastroprotective and antisecretory effect of a phytochemical made from matico leaves (Piper aduncum)].

Science.gov (United States)

Arroyo, Jorge; Bonilla, Pablo; Moreno-Exebio, Luis; Ronceros, Gerardo; Tomás, Gloria; Huamán, Juana; Raez, Ernesto; Quino, Mariano; Rodriguez-Calzado, Javier

2013-01-01

To determine the gastroprotective and antisecretory effect of ethanol extract from matico leaves (Piper aduncum) in animal models. To evaluate the gastroprotective effect, 220 mice of the Balb C57 strain were used. They were randomized in 22 groups of ten animals each, in which the formation of gastric ulcers was induced with indomethacin. Gastroprotection was determined by evaluating three aspects: inflammation, number of hemorrhagic shocks and number of ulcers. To evaluate the antisecretory effect, 64 white male Holtzman rats were used, which were randomized in eight groups of eight animals, one control and seven groups of treatment with one extract dose level and two phytochemical dose levels. Antisecretion was obtained through the pylorus ligation. Regarding gastroprotection, dichloromethane, chloroform, hexane and methanol extracts decreased inflammation to over 66% (p<0,05). The ethanolic extract shows 100% activity in reducing the number of hemorrhagic bands (p<0,05). The chloroform extract shows antiulcer activity at 75% (p<0,05). In terms of antisecretion, the phytochemical in capsules containing the ethanolic extract achieved 72% reduction of the gastric secretion volume (p<0,01) and 104,3% (p<0,01) PH increase. In experimental conditions, ethanolic extracts, their fractions and phytochemicals have a gastroprotective effect in mice and antisecretory effect in rats.

Molecular characterization of bacteriophages for microbial source tracking in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jung Eun; Lim, Mi Young; Kim, Sei Yoon; Lee, Sunghee; Lee, Heetae; Oh, Hyun-Myung; Hur, Hor-Gil; Ko, Gwangpyo

2009-11-01

We investigated coliphages from various fecal sources, including humans and animals, for microbial source tracking in South Korea. Both somatic and F+-specific coliphages were isolated from 43 fecal samples from farms, wild animal habitats, and human wastewater plants. Somatic coliphages were more prevalent and abundant than F+ coliphages in all of the tested fecal samples. We further characterized 311 F+ coliphage isolates using RNase sensitivity assays, PCR and reverse transcription-PCR, and nucleic acid sequencing. Phylogenetic analyses were performed based on the partial nucleic acid sequences of 311 F+ coliphages from various sources. F+ RNA coliphages were most prevalent among geese (95%) and were least prevalent in cows (5%). Among the genogroups of F+ RNA coliphages, most F+ coliphages isolated from animal fecal sources belonged to either group I or group IV, and most from human wastewater sources were in group II or III. Some of the group I coliphages were present in both human and animal source samples. F+ RNA coliphages isolated from various sources were divided into two main clusters. All F+ RNA coliphages isolated from human wastewater were grouped with Qbeta-like phages, while phages isolated from most animal sources were grouped with MS2-like phages. UniFrac significance statistical analyses revealed significant differences between human and animal bacteriophages. In the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), F+ RNA coliphages isolated from human waste were distinctively separate from those isolated from other animal sources. However, F+ DNA coliphages were not significantly different or separate in the PCoA. These results demonstrate that proper analysis of F+ RNA coliphages can effectively distinguish fecal sources.

Timber tracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Düdder, Boris; Ross, Omry

2017-01-01

Managing and verifying forest products in a value chain is often reliant on easily manipulated document or digital tracking methods - Chain of Custody Systems. We aim to create a new means of tracking timber by developing a tamper proof digital system based on Blockchain technology. Blockchain...

[Current animal feeds with antimicrobial activity].

Science.gov (United States)

Drumev, D

1981-01-01

Among the growth-promoting substances and factors contributing to fodder utilization in growing farm animals, also called nutritive, ergotropic means, the antibiotics and some synthetic chemotherapeutics have acquired special importance. To avoid the hazardous effect in humans consuming products of animal origin there should be no residual amounts of these stimulating agents in such products. That is why it has been assumed in a number of countries to use for the same purpose only nutritive means that are not applied as therapeutic agents. Such means should neither induce resistence to antibiotics and chemotherapeutics in microorganism nor should they be resorbed by the alimentary tract (or resorption should be negligible) or they are rapidly eliminated from the animal body, leaving no residual amounts. They should likewise act chiefly against gram-positive organisms, inducing no allergic reactions in the animals. Described are the following nutritive antibiotics: flavophospholipol (bambermycin, menomycin--flavomycin, producing a nutritive effect also in ruminants with a developed forestomach, and rebuilds sensitivity in antibiotic-resistant organisms belonging to Enterobacteriaceae), avoparcin (avotan--also active in ruminants with a developed forestomach), virginiamycin (staphylomycin--escalin, stafac), zincbacitracin (bacipharmin, baciferm), grisin (kormogrisin, of a road spectrum, with an antimycotic effect, raising the fertilization rate and activating phagocitosis), vitamycin-A (vitamycin--active also at retinol deficiency, lambdamycin, nosiheptide (primofax), efrotomycin. Due consideration is given to such chemotherapeutics as nitrovin (payson, paison), carbadox (mecadox, fortigro, of a broad spectrum retained for a longer period in the body of pigs), olaquindox (bio-N-celbar--of a broad spectrum, particularly with regard to gram-negative organisms, applied at present as a therapeutic and prophylactic preparation), cyadox (with a broad sprectrum). The

A hidden Markov model for reconstructing animal paths from solar geolocation loggers using templates for light intensity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rakhimberdiev, Eldar; Winkler, David W; Bridge, Eli; Seavy, Nathaniel E; Sheldon, Daniel; Piersma, Theunis; Saveliev, Anatoly

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Solar archival tags (henceforth called geolocators) are tracking devices deployed on animals to reconstruct their long-distance movements on the basis of locations inferred post hoc with reference to the geographical and seasonal variations in the timing and speeds of sunrise and sunset.

Dependence of yield of nuclear track-biosensors on track radius and analyte concentration

Science.gov (United States)

García-Arellano, H.; Muñoz H., G.; Fink, D.; Vacik, J.; Hnatowicz, V.; Alfonta, L.; Kiv, A.

2018-04-01

In swift heavy ion track-based polymeric biosensor foils with incorporated enzymes one exploits the correlation between the analyte concentration and the sensor current, via the enrichment of charged enzymatic reaction products in the track's confinement. Here we study the influence of the etched track radius on the biosensor's efficiency. These sensors are analyte-specific only if both the track radii and the analyte concentration exceed certain threshold values of ∼15 nm and ∼10-6 M (for glucose sensing), respectively. Below these limits the sensor signal stems un-specifically from any charge carrier. In its proper working regime, the inner track walls are smoothly covered by enzymes and the efficiency is practically radius independent. Theory shows that the measured current should be slightly sub-proportional to the analyte concentration; the measurements roughly reconfirm this. Narrower tracks (∼5-15 nm radius) with reduced enzyme coverage lead to decreasing efficiency. Tiny signals visible when the tracks are etched to effective radii between 0 and ∼5 nm are tentatively ascribed to enzymes bonded to surface-near nano-cracks in the polymer foil, resulting from its degradation due to aging, rather than to the tracks. Precondition for this study was the accurate determination of the etched track radii, which is possible only by a nanofluidic approach. This holds to some extent even for enzyme-covered tracks, though in this case most of the wall charges are compensated by enzyme bonding.

Deriving Animal Movement Behaviors Using Movement Parameters Extracted from Location Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Teimouri

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We present a methodology for distinguishing between three types of animal movement behavior (foraging, resting, and walking based on high-frequency tracking data. For each animal we quantify an individual movement path. A movement path is a temporal sequence consisting of the steps through space taken by an animal. By selecting a set of appropriate movement parameters, we develop a method to assess movement behavioral states, reflected by changes in the movement parameters. The two fundamental tasks of our study are segmentation and clustering. By segmentation, we mean the partitioning of the trajectory into segments, which are homogeneous in terms of their movement parameters. By clustering, we mean grouping similar segments together according to their estimated movement parameters. The proposed method is evaluated using field observations (done by humans of movement behavior. We found that on average, our method agreed with the observational data (ground truth at a level of 80.75% ± 5.9% (SE.

29 CFR 825.120 - Leave for pregnancy or birth.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OTHER LAWS THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993 Coverage Under the Family and Medical Leave Act § 825.120 Leave for... of a child as follows: (1) Both the mother and father are entitled to FMLA leave for the birth of...

Tracks: A National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network Overview

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

In this podcast, Dr. Mike McGeehin, Director of CDC's Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, provides an overview of the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. It highlights the Tracking Network's goal, how it will improve public health, its audience, and much more.

Urbanism on Track : Application of tracking technologies in urbanism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van der Hoeven, F.D.; Van Schaick, J.; Van der Spek, S.C.; Smit, M.G.J.

2008-01-01

Tracking technologies such as GPS, mobile phone tracking, video and RFID monitoring are rapidly becoming part of daily life. Technological progress offers huge possibilities for studying human activity patterns in time and space in new ways. Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) held an

Japanese tea leaves: a possible biological standard reference material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuwa, Keiichiro; Notsu, Kenji; Tsunoda, Kin-ichi; Kato, Hideaki; Yamamoto, Yuko.

1978-01-01

Japanese Tea Leaves, prepared by pulverizing with an agate ball mill and sieving with a Saran fiber sieve (50 mesh) were assessed as a possible biological standard reference material for elemental analysis. The metal content of the tea leaves was determined independently at two laboratories using atomic absorption and flame emission spectrometry. Neutron activation analysis was also performed to determine the content (21 elements) of Tea Leaves. For some elements the result from the various methods were compared. The characteristics of Tea Leaves are discussed and the elemental composition is compared to that of Orchard Leaves (NBS SRM, 1571). The most significant characteristic of Tea Leaves was the high manganese content. (auth.)

Real-Time, Multiple, Pan/Tilt/Zoom, Computer Vision Tracking, and 3D Position Estimating System for Unmanned Aerial System Metrology

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-18

area of 3D point estimation of flapping- wing UASs. The benefits of designing and developing such a system is instrumental in researching various...series of successive states until a given name is reached such as: Object Animate Animal Mammal Dog Labrador Chocolate (Brown) Male Name...are many benefits to us- ing SIFT in tracking. It detects features that are invariant to image scale and rotation, and are shown to provide robust

A generally adoptable radiotracing method for tracking carbon nanotubes in animals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deng Xiaoyong; Yang Shengtao; Nie Haiyu; Wang Haifang; Liu Yuanfang [Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)], E-mail: haifangw@pku.edu.cn

2008-02-20

Carbon nanotube (CNT) mediated drug delivery systems have currently aroused a great deal of interest. Such delivery systems for drugs, proteins and genes have been preliminarily studied using cellular and animal models. For the further study of the pharmacokinetics and related biological behaviours of CNTs in vivo, a fast and convenient tracing method is particularly demanded. In this paper, we developed a generally adoptable tracing method for the biodistribution study of functionalized CNTs in vivo. Taurine covalently functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (tau-MWNTs) and Tween-80 wrapped MWNTs (Tween-MWNTs) were labelled with {sup 125}I, and then their distribution in mice was determined. It is interesting that Tween-80 can reduce the RES uptake of MWNTs remarkably. The resulting distribution of {sup 125}I-tau-MWNTs was very consistent with that using {sup 14}C-taurine-MWNTs as the CNTs tracer, which means the easy {sup 125}I labelling method is reliable and effective.

An insight on advantage of hybrid sun–wind-tracking over sun-tracking PV system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahimi, Masoud; Banybayat, Meisam; Tagheie, Yaghoub; Valeh-e-Sheyda, Peyvand

2015-01-01

Graphical abstract: Real photograph of hybrid sun–wind-tracking system. - Highlights: • Novel hybrid sun–wind-tracking system proposed to enhance PV cell performance. • The wind tracker can cool down the PV cell as sun-tracking system work. • The hybrid tracker achieved 7.4% increase in energy gain over the sun tracker. • The overall daily output energy gain was increased by 49.83% by using this system. - Abstract: This paper introduces the design and application of a novel hybrid sun–wind-tracking system. This hybrid system employs cooling effect of wind, besides the advantages of tracking sun for enhancing power output from examined hybrid photovoltaic cell. The principal experiment focuses on comparison between dual-axes sun-tracking and hybrid sun–wind-tracking photovoltaic (PV) panels. The deductions based on the research tests confirm that the overall daily output energy gain was increased by 49.83% compared with that of a fixed system. Moreover, an overall increase of about 7.4% in the output power was found for the hybrid sun–wind-tracking over the two-axis sun tracking system.

Father's Rights to Paid Parental Leave in the Nordic Countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rostgaard, Tine; Haas, L.

2011-01-01

to what extent government-provided, paid parental leave and quotas for fathers could bring about equality in the division of leave between men and women by focusing on the pioneers in the field, the Nordic countries – the first nations to offer fathers parental leave and introduce quotas. First, we......European Union policy encourages men and women to share parental leave to balance work and family life and promote gender equality in the labor market. A new directive extends parental leave to four months and introduces a quota, so one month is reserved for each parent. This article explores...... describe the extent to which parental leave policies have been established and implemented in a way that is likely to promote equal sharing of leave. Next, we evaluate the impact of particular configurations of gender equality incentives in present parental leave policies for the actual division of leave...

Maternity leave, women's employment, and marital incompatibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyde, J S; Essex, M J; Clark, R; Klein, M H

2001-09-01

This research investigated the relationship between the length of women's maternity leave and marital incompatibility, in the context of other variables including the woman's employment, her dissatisfaction with the division of household labor, and her sense of role overload. Length of leave, work hours, and family salience were associated with several forms of dissatisfaction, which in turn predicted role overload. Role overload predicted increased marital incompatibility for experienced mothers but did not for first-time mothers, for whom discrepancies between preferred and actual child care were more important. Length of maternity leave showed significant interactions with other variables, supporting the hypothesis that a short leave is a risk factor that, when combined with another risk factor, contributes to personal and marital distress.

Simulating the behavior of patients who leave a public hospital emergency department without being seen by a physician: a cellular automaton and agent-based framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milad Yousefi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to develop an agent based modeling (ABM framework to simulate the behavior of patients who leave a public hospital emergency department (ED without being seen (LWBS. In doing so, the study complements computer modeling and cellular automata (CA techniques to simulate the behavior of patients in an ED. After verifying and validating the model by comparing it with data from a real case study, the significance of four preventive policies including increasing number of triage nurses, fast-track treatment, increasing the waiting room capacity and reducing treatment time were investigated by utilizing ordinary least squares regression. After applying the preventing policies in ED, an average of 42.14% reduction in the number of patients who leave without being seen and 6.05% reduction in the average length of stay (LOS of patients was reported. This study is the first to apply CA in an ED simulation. Comparing the average LOS before and after applying CA with actual times from emergency department information system showed an 11% improvement. The simulation results indicated that the most effective approach to reduce the rate of LWBS is applying fast-track treatment. The ABM approach represents a flexible tool that can be constructed to reflect any given environment. It is also a support system for decision-makers to assess the relative impact of control strategies.

Simulating the behavior of patients who leave a public hospital emergency department without being seen by a physician: a cellular automaton and agent-based framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Yousefi, Milad; Yousefi, Moslem; Fogliatto, F S; Ferreira, R P M; Kim, J H

2018-01-11

The objective of this study was to develop an agent based modeling (ABM) framework to simulate the behavior of patients who leave a public hospital emergency department (ED) without being seen (LWBS). In doing so, the study complements computer modeling and cellular automata (CA) techniques to simulate the behavior of patients in an ED. After verifying and validating the model by comparing it with data from a real case study, the significance of four preventive policies including increasing number of triage nurses, fast-track treatment, increasing the waiting room capacity and reducing treatment time were investigated by utilizing ordinary least squares regression. After applying the preventing policies in ED, an average of 42.14% reduction in the number of patients who leave without being seen and 6.05% reduction in the average length of stay (LOS) of patients was reported. This study is the first to apply CA in an ED simulation. Comparing the average LOS before and after applying CA with actual times from emergency department information system showed an 11% improvement. The simulation results indicated that the most effective approach to reduce the rate of LWBS is applying fast-track treatment. The ABM approach represents a flexible tool that can be constructed to reflect any given environment. It is also a support system for decision-makers to assess the relative impact of control strategies.

Influenza in workplaces: transmission, workers' adherence to sick leave advice and European sick leave recommendations.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Christina Hansen; Tomba, Gianpaolo Scalia; de Blasio, Birgitte Freiesleben

2016-06-01

Knowledge about influenza transmission in the workplace and whether staying home from work when experiencing influenza-like illness can reduce the spread of influenza is crucial for the design of efficient public health initiatives. This review synthesizes current literature on sickness presenteeism and influenza transmission in the workplace and provides an overview of sick leave recommendations in Europe for influenza. A search was performed on Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Cinahl, Web of Science, Scopus and SweMed to identify studies related to workplace contacts, -transmission, -interventions and compliance with recommendations to take sick leave. A web-based survey on national recommendations and policies for sick leave during influenza was issued to 31 European countries. Twenty-two articles (9 surveys; 13 modelling articles) were eligible for this review. Results from social mixing studies suggest that 20-25% of weekly contacts are made in the workplace, while modelling studies suggest that on average 16% (range 9-33%) of influenza transmission occurs in the workplace. The effectiveness of interventions to reduce workplace presenteeism is largely unknown. Finally, estimates from studies reporting expected compliance with sick leave recommendations ranged from 71 to 95%. Overall, 18 countries participated in the survey of which nine (50%) had issued recommendations encouraging sick employees to stay at home during the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, while only one country had official recommendations for seasonal influenza. During the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, many European countries recommended ill employees to take sick leave. Further research is warranted to quantify the effect of reduced presenteeism during influenza illness. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.

Influenza in workplaces: transmission, workers’ adherence to sick leave advice and European sick leave recommendations

Science.gov (United States)

Tomba, Gianpaolo Scalia; de Blasio, Birgitte Freiesleben

2016-01-01

Background: Knowledge about influenza transmission in the workplace and whether staying home from work when experiencing influenza-like illness can reduce the spread of influenza is crucial for the design of efficient public health initiatives. Aim: This review synthesizes current literature on sickness presenteeism and influenza transmission in the workplace and provides an overview of sick leave recommendations in Europe for influenza. Methods: A search was performed on Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Cinahl, Web of Science, Scopus and SweMed to identify studies related to workplace contacts, -transmission, -interventions and compliance with recommendations to take sick leave. A web-based survey on national recommendations and policies for sick leave during influenza was issued to 31 European countries. Results: Twenty-two articles (9 surveys; 13 modelling articles) were eligible for this review. Results from social mixing studies suggest that 20–25% of weekly contacts are made in the workplace, while modelling studies suggest that on average 16% (range 9–33%) of influenza transmission occurs in the workplace. The effectiveness of interventions to reduce workplace presenteeism is largely unknown. Finally, estimates from studies reporting expected compliance with sick leave recommendations ranged from 71 to 95%. Overall, 18 countries participated in the survey of which nine (50%) had issued recommendations encouraging sick employees to stay at home during the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, while only one country had official recommendations for seasonal influenza. Conclusions: During the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, many European countries recommended ill employees to take sick leave. Further research is warranted to quantify the effect of reduced presenteeism during influenza illness. PMID:27060594

Non-etching nuclear track visualization in polymers: fluorescent and dyed tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.; Toth-Szilagyi, M.; Monnin, M.; Gourcy, J.

1979-01-01

A report is presented on progress in two methods of non-etching nuclear track visualization. The basis for one method is to graft polymer chains in the vicinity of the ion path in a polymer, and then to dye it, making the track visible. The second method is similar, but in this case saturated organic molecules can be used, which prevents subsequent polymerization. The detector is soaked with a solution of a sensitization molecule that can react with a convenient dye and fix it. The sensitization molecules may diffuse into the detector either through the bulk of it or/ and along the region damaged by a charged particle. Depending on the detailed procedure used, the tracks may be seen as 'dyed tracks' with visible-light illumination or as 'fluorescent tracks' with u.v. illumination. Experimental procedures and results are given and discussed. (U.K.)

Comparing Acoustic Tag Attachments Designed for Mobile Tracking of Hatchling Sea Turtles

OpenAIRE

Hoover, Aimee L.; Shillinger, George L.; Swiggs, Jennifer; Bailey, Helen

2017-01-01

The poorly understood movements of sea turtles during the “lost years” of their early life history have been characterized as a “passive drifter” stage. Biologging technology allows us to study patterns of dispersal, but the small body size of young life stages requires particular consideration that such tagging does not significantly impede animal movements. We tested the effect of instrument attachment methods for mobile acoustic tracking of hatchling sea turtles, including a design that wo...

The use of bead beating to prepare suspensions of nuclei for flow cytometry from fresh leaves, herbarium leaves, petals and pollen.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Andy V

2007-12-01

"Bead beating" is commonly used to release DNA from cells for genomic studies but it was used here to prepare suspensions of plant nuclei for measurement of DNA amounts by flow cytometry. Plant material was placed in 2-ml screw-capped tubes containing beads of zirconia/silica (2.5 mm diameter) or glass (2.5 or 1.0 mm diameter) and 1 ml of lysis buffer. The tubes were mechanically shaken with an FP120 FastPrep Cell Disrupter to release intact nuclei from plant tissue by the impact of the beads. The nuclei were then stained with propidium iodide (PI) and analyzed by flow cytometry. The method was tested using fresh leaves, fresh petals and herbarium leaves of Rosa canina, leaves and pollen of R. rugosa, and fresh leaves of Petroselinum crispum, Nicotiana tabacum, and Allium cepa. Batches of 12 samples of fresh leaves were prepared, simultaneously, in 45 s by bead beating in the Cell Disrupter. In flow cytometry histograms, nuclei of fresh leaves gave G(1)/G(0) peaks with CVs of less than 3.0% and nuclei from fresh petals and herbarium leaves of R. canina, and pollen of the generative nuclei of R. rugosa gave peaks with coefficients of variation (CVs) of less than 4.0%. DNA amounts estimated from 24-month-old herbarium leaves, using P. crispum as an internal standard, were less than those of fresh leaves by a small but significant amount. Suspensions of nuclei can be prepared rapidly and conveniently from a diversity of tissues by bead beating. Exposure of laboratory workers to harmful substances in the lysis buffer is minimized. (c) 2007 International Society for Analytical Cytology

Copaifera langsdorffii: evaluation of potential gastroprotective of extract and isolated compounds obtained from leaves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)