58,485 research outputs found
Branding Practices on Four Dairies in Kantale, Sri Lanka.
Hot-iron branding is illegal in Sri Lanka, but is still commonly used to identify dairy herds in extensive farming systems, which are primarily located in the countrys Dry Zone. Despite the negative welfare implications of this practice, there is no written documentation of branding in this region. We observed branding on four smallholder farms in Kantale, Eastern Province to understand the welfare implications associated with the procedure and challenges limiting the uptake of more welfare-friendly alternatives, such as ear tagging. Areas of welfare concern included the duration of restraint, the size and location of the brand, and the absence of pain relief. Animals were restrained with rope for an average duration of 12 min (range 8⁻17 min). Farmers used multiple running irons to mark their initials and, in some cases, their address, with the largest brands extending across the ribs and hip. Three farmers applied coconut or neem oil topically to the brand after performing the procedure. No analgesics were given before or after branding. Farmers reported that poor ear tag retention in extensive systems and theft were the main factors impeding the uptake of alternative forms of identification. Branding is also practiced as part of traditional medicine in some cases. Given the clear evidence that hot-iron branding impairs animal welfare and there is no evidence that this can be improved, alternative identification methods are needed, both in Sri Lanka, as well as in other countries engaging in this practice
The ALICE TPC, a large 3-dimensional tracking device with fast readout for ultra-high multiplicity events
The design, construction, and commissioning of the ALICE Time-Projection
Chamber (TPC) is described. It is the main device for pattern recognition,
tracking, and identification of charged particles in the ALICE experiment at
the CERN LHC. The TPC is cylindrical in shape with a volume close to 90 m^3 and
is operated in a 0.5 T solenoidal magnetic field parallel to its axis.
In this paper we describe in detail the design considerations for this
detector for operation in the extreme multiplicity environment of central
Pb--Pb collisions at LHC energy. The implementation of the resulting
requirements into hardware (field cage, read-out chambers, electronics),
infrastructure (gas and cooling system, laser-calibration system), and software
led to many technical innovations which are described along with a presentation
of all the major components of the detector, as currently realized. We also
report on the performance achieved after completion of the first round of
stand-alone calibration runs and demonstrate results close to those specified
in the TPC Technical Design Report.Comment: 55 pages, 82 figure
DIP: Disruption-Tolerance for IP
Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN) have been a popular subject of recent
research and development. These networks are characterized by frequent, lengthy
outages and a lack of contemporaneous end-to-end paths. In this work we discuss
techniques for extending IP to operate more effectively in DTN scenarios. Our
scheme, Disruption Tolerant IP (DIP) uses existing IP packet headers, uses the
existing socket API for applications, is compatible with IPsec, and uses
familiar Policy-Based Routing techniques for network management
A problem-structuring model for analyzing transportation–environment relationships
This is the post-print version of the final paper published in European Journal of Operational Research. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.This study discusses a decision support framework that guides policy makers in their strategic transportation related decisions by using multi-methodology. For this purpose, a methodology for analyzing the effects of transportation policies on environment, society, economy, and energy is proposed. In the proposed methodology, a three-stage problem structuring model is developed. Initially, experts’ opinions are structured by using a cognitive map to determine the relationships between transportation and environmental concepts. Then a structural equation model (SEM) is constructed, based on the cognitive map, to quantify the relations among external transportation and environmental factors. Finally the results of the SEM model are used to evaluate the consequences of possible policies via scenario analysis. In this paper a pilot study that covers only one module of the whole framework, namely transportation–environment interaction module, is conducted to present the applicability and usefulness of the methodology. This pilot study also reveals the impacts of transportation policies on the environment. To achieve a sustainable transportation system, the extent of the relationships between transportation and the environment must be considered. The World Development Indicators developed by the World Bank are used for this purpose
Incentives for Quality over Time – The Case of Facebook Applications
We study the market for applications on Facebook, the dominant platform for social networking and make use of a rule change by Facebook by which high-quality applications were rewarded with further opportunities to engage users. We find that the change led to quality being a more important driver of usage while sheer network size became less important. Further, we find that update frequency helps applications maintain higher usage, while generally usage of Facebook applications declines less rapidly with age
The structure of Inter-Urban traffic: A weighted network analysis
We study the structure of the network representing the interurban commuting
traffic of the Sardinia region, Italy, which amounts to 375 municipalities and
1,600,000 inhabitants. We use a weighted network representation where vertices
correspond to towns and the edges to the actual commuting flows among those. We
characterize quantitatively both the topological and weighted properties of the
resulting network. Interestingly, the statistical properties of commuting
traffic exhibit complex features and non-trivial relations with the underlying
topology. We characterize quantitatively the traffic backbone among large
cities and we give evidences for a very high heterogeneity of the commuter
flows around large cities. We also discuss the interplay between the
topological and dynamical properties of the network as well as their relation
with socio-demographic variables such as population and monthly income. This
analysis may be useful at various stages in environmental planning and provides
analytical tools for a wide spectrum of applications ranging from impact
evaluation to decision-making and planning support.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables; 1 missing ref added and minor
revision
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