Hepato- and nephrotoxicity in male albino rats exposed to malathion and spinosad in stored wheat grains

Adult male albino rats were fed on stored wheat grains (Triticum aestivum L.) treated with malathion and spinosad at both 8 and 16 ppm for 90 consecutive days to evaluate their hepatic and renal toxicity. The activity of serum acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was decreased in rats treated with the higher concentration of both tested pesticides. Biochemical parameters of liver functions [i.e., aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), acid phosphatase (ACP) activity, as well as total protein, albumin, bilirubin and cholesterol levels] were severely affected especially at higher concentration. Malathion and spinosad elevated the activity of ALT, AST, ALP and ACP in rats treated with the higher concentration. Also, total and direct bilirubin levels increased in rats treated with the higher concentration of both pesticides. On the contrary, both pesticides decreased total protein and albumin levels in treated rats in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, malathion was found to be hyperglycemic. Kidney function parameters (i.e., urea and creatinine levels) were increased in treated rats in a concentration-dependent manner. The above mentioned effects were supported by histopathological examination of liver and kidney tissues. The obtained results indicated also that malathion was able to cause a more pronounced hepato- and renal toxicity in rats than spinosad

GENETICAL AND ADAPTATION ISSUES DURING THE FIRST LACTATION OF SIMMENTAL COWS

The study was conduct to investigate the interrelation between milk production during the first lactation with the age of calving and the length of pregnancy past in Albania, as well as the relation of milk production with feeding system. There are studied 27 cows imported from Austria during the year 2005, and managed in Nikel-Kruje. The study shows that the heifers aging 32-34 months have produced more milk than heifers ageing 28-31 months. In addition, the heifers that past more months of their pregnancy in Albania have produced less milk, which is related with the diffrence of feed ration from country of origine. However, for both indicators there is not a statistically significant relationship at the 95.0% or higher confidence level. For each kilogram milk produced is spent 1,15 Milk Unit out of 0,85- 0,90 Milk Unit advised from the literature. The lack of good feeding during the entire lactation has influenced the milk production. So, the production of studied cows is 3735 kg milkin their first lactation while theeir mothers production in the first lactation is 5499 kg. Comparisons were done for the results obtained in our country and the country of origin. However, the results taken by the studied herd compare with the heifers imported in 1972 and from the literature, are aceptablefor the management conditios of our country. Simmental is a well adopted breed in the coastal/plain area of the country making possible the increase of milk production and the improvement of meat traits. Statgraphics Centurion XV was used for data analyzing

Assessing capacity scalability policies in RMS using system dynamics

This paper presents a model for assessing different capacity scalability policies in Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) for different changing demand scenarios. The novelty of this approach is two fold: (1) it is the first attempt to explore different capacity scalability policies in RMS based on multiple performance measures, mainly scaling rate, Work In Process level, inventory level and backlog level; and (2) the dynamic scalability process in RMS is modeled for the first time using System Dynamics. Different policies for capacity scalability for various demand scenarios were assessed. Numerical simulation results obtained using the developed capacity scalability model showed that the best capacity scalability policy to be adopted for RMS is dependent on the anticipated demand pattern as well as the various manufacturing objectives. The presented assessment results will help the capacity scalability planners better decide the different tradeoffs between the competing strategic and operational objectives of the manufacturing enterprise, before setting the suitable capacity scalability plan parameters

A multiple performance analysis of market-capacity integration policies

A model that uses simulation augmented with Design of Experiments (DOE) is presented to analyse the performance of a Make-to-Order (MTO) reconfigurable manufacturing system with scalable capacity. Unlike the classical capacity scaling policies, the proposed hybrid capacity scaling policy is determined using multiple performance measures that reflect cost, internal stability and responsiveness. The impact of both tactical capacity and marketing policies and their interaction on the overall performance was analysed using DOE techniques and real case data. In addition to the different insights about the trade-offs involved in capacity planning decisions, the presented results challenged the conventional capacity planning wisdoms in MTO about the negative role of the capacity scalability delay time. Finally the analysis demonstrated the importance of inter-functional integration between capacity and marketing policies

Variety and volume dynamic management for value creation in changeable manufacturing systems

In today’s uncertain market and continuously evolving technology, managing manufacturing systems are more complex than ever. This paper studies the dynamics of managing variety and volume to enhance value creation in manufacturers implementing system-level advanced and automated manufacturing technology (AAMT). The demand is composed of heterogeneous customers who make purchasing decisions depending on the variety levels and lead times of the firm’s product offerings. The cost structure adopted calculates profit as the difference between customer value creation rate (VCR) and costs associated with the process of creating this value. Reported results contribute to the variety and volume management literature by offering analytical clarity of factors affecting product platforms and capacity scalability management for systems with AAMT. In addition, insightful answers to the trade-offs between profit maximising market coverage and investments, smoothing demand policies and system stability for this type of environment are presented. Furthermore, the value of market information in deciding the industrial technology investment and also the impact of product life cycle on the same investment is captured

Drug related critical incidents

Drug related incidents are a common form of reported medical errors. This paper reviews the critical incidents related to drug errors reported from the main operating theatre suite in a teaching hospital in a developing country from January 1997 to December 2002. Each report was evaluated individually by two reviewers using a structured process. During this period, 44 874 anaesthetics were administered; 768 critical incidents were reported, 165 (21%) of which were related to drug errors. Underdosage, side-effect/drug reaction and syringe swap were the most common. A total of 76% were classified as preventable; 56% due to human error and 19% due to system error. High risk incidents accounted for 10% of all drug errors and most of these were related to the use of neuromuscular blocking drugs. This analysis has been found useful in addressing some issues about priorities

Modelling and analysis of dynamic capacity complexity in multi-stage production

The uncertainty associated with managing dynamic capacity problem is the main source of its complexity. This article presents a system dynamics approach to model and analyse operational complexity of dynamic capacity in multi-stage production. The unique feature of this approach is that it captures the stochastic nature of three main sources of complexity associated with dynamic capacity. These are the demand, internal manufacturing delay and capacity scalability delay. The developed model was demonstrated by an industrial case study of multi-stage printed circuit board assembly line. The analysis of simulation experiments showed that ignoring complexity sources can lead to wrong decisions concerning both scaling levels and backlog management decisions. In addition, a general trade-off between the controllability and complexity of the dynamic capacity was illustrated. Finally, comparative analysis of the effect of each of these sources on the complexity level revealed that internal delay has the highest impact on dynamic capacity efficiency. Guidelines and recommendations for better capacity management and reduction of its complexity are presented

Modeling of Personalized Privacy Disclosure Behavior: A Formal Method Approach

In order to create user-centric and personalized privacy management tools, the underlying models must account for individual users' privacy expectations, preferences, and their ability to control their information sharing activities. Existing studies of users' privacy behavior modeling attempt to frame the problem from a request's perspective, which lack the crucial involvement of the information owner, resulting in limited or no control of policy management. Moreover, very few of them take into the consideration the aspect of correctness, explainability, usability, and acceptance of the methodologies for each user of the system. In this paper, we present a methodology to formally model, validate, and verify personalized privacy disclosure behavior based on the analysis of the user's situational decision-making process. We use a model checking tool named UPPAAL to represent users' self-reported privacy disclosure behavior by an extended form of finite state automata (FSA), and perform reachability analysis for the verification of privacy properties through computation tree logic (CTL) formulas. We also describe the practical use cases of the methodology depicting the potential of formal technique towards the design and development of user-centric behavioral modeling. This paper, through extensive amounts of experimental outcomes, contributes several insights to the area of formal methods and user-tailored privacy behavior modeling