The diet of helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) in the Riemland of the north-eastern Free State, South Africa

This study was conducted to determine the diet of helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) in the Riemland and to establish the effects that these gamebirds may be having on cash crop yield. In the Riemland farming community many farmers complain of harvest losses suffered to guineafowl. It was found that the main dietary items during all seasons are corms of weed plants, primarily Cyperus spp. Helmeted guineafowl rely to a large degree on waste maize and germinating wheat during winter when natural food is difficult to find. Although they do not pose any problems with regard to maize farming, this is not necessarily true for wheat farming

Image-guided fluorescence tomography in head & neck surgical models

Clinical indications for fluorescence-guided surgery continue to expand, and are being spurred by the rapid development of new agents that improve biological targeting.1 There is a corresponding need to develop imaging systems that quantify fluorescence - not only at the tissue surface, but at depth. We have recently described an image-guided fluorescence tomography system that leverages geometric data from intraoperative cone-beam CT and surgical navigation,2 and builds on finite-element method software (NIRFAST) for diffuse optical tomography (DOT).3 DOT systems have most commonly been used for sub-surface inclusions buried within tissue (e.g., breast and neurological tumors). Here, we focus on inclusion models relevant to tumors infiltrating from the mucosal surface (an “iceberg” model), as is most often the case in head and neck cancer, where over 85% of tumors are squamous cell carcinoma.4 This work presents results from simulations, tissue-simulating anatomical phantoms, and animal studies involving infiltrative tumor models. The objective is to characterize system performance across a range of inclusion diameters, depths, and optical properties. For example, Fig. 1 shows a fluorescence reconstruction of a simulated tonsil tumor in an oral cavity phantom. Future clinical studies are necessary to assess in vivo performance and intraoperative workflow. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Critical Speeds Of Turbomachinery: Computer Predictions Vs. Experimental Measurements.

LecturePg. 105-130As a result of a continuing demand for increased performance, modern turbomachines are sometimes designed to operate near a critical speed. Machines for petrochemical and natural gas service have been purchased and delivered which were later discovered to be operating so close to a critical speed as to cause difficulty in maintaining the rotor balance required to ensure acceptable vibration levels. A serious requirement for an accurate critical speed prediction capability is thus indicated. Field experience has shown that the accuracy of computer predicted critical speeds of contemporary turbomachines is sometimes open to question. Reports on research to experimentally verify existing computer programs for a priori critical speed prediction are almost nonexistent in the engineering literature. Comparisons of state-of-the-art computer predictions of critical speeds are described herein, with experimental measurements on shafts and rotors of varying complexity. The models investigated range from a precision uniform shaft in the laboratory to an eight-stage centrifugal compressor rotor. Modifications made to existing computer programs to improve the accuracy of predicted critical speeds are also discussed. Special care must be taken to properly define the rotor-mass elastic model, which depends on the features of the computer program employed. The accuracy of critical speed predictions is shown to depend on: 1) the accuracy of the free-free rotor vibration models, which depends on the accuracy of the rotor mass-elastic model, once the computer algorithm is optimized, 2) the accuracy of the bearing stiffness and damping coefficients, which are speed dependent in the case of fluid-film bearings, and 3) the accuracy of the dynamic properties of the foundation, which can be represented by a frequency-dependent impedance and which must be determined by experimental measurements. In the special case of tilt-pad bearings, existing data on the stiffness properties was found to be unsatisfactory. Measurements were made and the new results are reported herein. Measurements made on one of the laboratory models, a three-disk rotor on tilt-pad bearings, showed subsynchronous whirl, which is not explainable by contemporary instability theory unless the tilt-pad bearings have significant cross-coupling and less damping than the available literature predicts

The Grizzly, October 22, 2015

New President on the Brock: Brock Blomberg Takes the Helm at Ursinus • Blomberg Installed as 17th President • Blomberg Begins New Era with Intellectual Discussions • Homecoming Court Crowned • 5 Questions with Brock • A Historic Moment Celebrated in a Historic Place • A Taste of the Workplace • Dr. Hess has Good Chemistry with Freshmen Students • Opinions: Should UC Ban Cigarettes?; New Film Green Inferno Rates 3 / 10 • Distance Doesn\u27t Matter: Two Women\u27s Soccer Players Come From Very Far Apart • Men\u27s and Women\u27s Soccer Look to End Seasons on a High Notehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1674/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, February 12, 2015

UC Partners With Community College • Fongs to Receive Honorary Degrees • Merit Scholarships Increase Because of Higher Tuition • Changes to Title IX Brought Changes to Sexual Assault Documentation • Being an International Student is Difficult but Gratifying for Zhu • Getting to Know Mr. Wismer • Aux./Vox. Prints • Novelist Shares Her Story • Opinion: Main Street is a Growing Concern for Students; Are Ursinus\u27 Policies Against Weed Practical? • Junior Swimmer Stepping Up for the Men • Freshman Swimmin\u27 Women Playing Key Role in Championship Defensehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1923/thumbnail.jp

Using a Service Oriented Architecture Approach to Clinical Decision Support: Performance Results from Two CDS Consortium Demonstrations

The Clinical Decision Support Consortium has completed two demonstration trials involving a web service for the execution of clinical decision support (CDS) rules in one or more electronic health record (EHR) systems. The initial trial ran in a local EHR at Partners HealthCare. A second EHR site, associated with Wishard Memorial Hospital, Indianapolis, IN, was added in the second trial. Data were gathered during each 6 month period and analyzed to assess performance, reliability, and response time in the form of means and standard deviations for all technical components of the service, including assembling and preparation of input data. The mean service call time for each period was just over 2 seconds. In this paper we report on the findings and analysis to date while describing the areas for further analysis and optimization as we continue to expand our use of a Services Oriented Architecture approach for CDS across multiple institutions

The Grizzly, September 17, 2015

Professor Choreographs for Fringe Festival • Three First-Year Students Win New Performing Arts Awards • Hillel Celebrates High Holidays • New Professor to Teach English • Crigler Institute Helps Incoming Freshmen Prepare for College • Opinions: Rough Road to Peace; New Bill: $10 Rejects Hamilton for a Woman • Spiking the Competition • Siblings from Souderton • Women\u27s Soccer Starts Season Stronghttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1670/thumbnail.jp