Cómo valorar el contenido energético de los alimentos para perros y gatos

La valoración energética de los alimentos tiene por objeto cuantificar la cantidad de energía potencial que aportan, así como las distintas pérdidas que ocurren en el transcurso de los procesos de digestión y metabolismo. De esta forma se puede conocer de la forma más precisa posible la energía disponible para los procesos de mantenimiento y produccióndel animal. Este artículo explica cómo llevar a cabo dicha valoración energética

Criterios para la formulación de alimentos completos para perros y gatos

La finalidad principal que se persigue a la hora de alimentar a un animal de compañía es aportar la energía y los nutrientes diarios necesarios para garantizar su salud, actividad y longevidad. Promover un adecuado desarrollo durante el periodo de crecimiento y procurar el mantenimiento del peso y la condición corporal adecuados a lo largo de la vida adulta son requisitos fundamentales para alcanzar estos fines

Analysis of Required Investigations of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Spain

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are the most common source of occupational health problems in Western countries. In Spain, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) can be reported either as accidents or occupational diseases. When reported as an occupational disease, a full diagnosis is performed, as the compensation system needs the approval of the social security authority and a mandatory investigation has to be performed. Although many methods are available for investigating the causes of occupational accidents, occupational diseases have not been analysed with the same depth, and there is a lack of investigation methods. This paper aims to analyse the role of 43 occupational investigations of causes of musculoskeletal diseases in the prevention cycle. This study is based on the occupational investigations performed by workplaces’ occupational health and safety specialists when musculoskeletal diseases are reported. The analysis of the data involves descriptive statistics and the Φ coeffcient. Based on administrative data, 68 workplaces employing 15,260 workers were surveyed and 41 workplaces with 13,201 workers submitted valid questionnaires to be analysed. The most frequent cause of reported musculoskeletal disease, in terms of primary risk, is repetitive movement. The only proposed measure with a significant association to the exposure by repetitive movements is job rotation (alternating workers between tasks within a job or between activities as a means to vary different levels of exposure). The investigation of occupational diseases has been useful in most of the cases for proposing preventive measures. Most of the workplaces surveyed have performed investigations and adopted preventive measures, but the managers of some workplaces were not aware of any disease notification regarding their workers when surveyed. More research is needed to provide tools for this important task

Evaluación de un programa de subvenciones para la mejora de la seguridad y salud laboral de las PYMES en Andalucía

Objetivos: Evaluar un programa de subvenciones para proyectos de prevención de riesgos laborales en PYMES de Andalucía. Se analizan datos y resultados del programa entre 2006 y 2008. Métodos: Se analizaron las características del programa en términos de presupuesto, solicitudes y proyectos financiados. Se evaluó la percepción de las empresas solicitantes en cuanto a adecuación y resultados del programa mediante cuestionario postal anonimizado. Se calculó la incidencia de accidentes de trabajo en 2006 y 2007 en una submuestra de las empresas participantes en el programa en 2006. Resultados: El importe total de las subvenciones (algo más de 17 millones de euros) cubrió el 44% de las inversiones comprometidas por las empresas subvencionadas. Se concedieron en torno al 50% de las ayudas solicitadas. Se recibieron 573 cuestionarios completados (24% del total remitido). Entre las empresas subvencionadas, el 89% considera efectiva la inversión realizada y un 87% estima que han mejorado las condiciones de trabajo en la empresa. La inmensa mayoría de las empresas (>90%) considera que la falta de recursos económicos es un obstáculo para la prevención y que este tipo de ayudas son necesarias. La incidencia de accidentes de trabajo se redujo entre 2007 y 2006 (razón de incidencia 0,93; IC95% 0,78-1,11). Conclusiones: El programa ha tenido una valoración positiva, observándose una reducción de la incidencia de accidentes en las empresas que recibieron incentivos. Es necesario incorporar en el diseño de estos programas los criterios e indicadores necesarios para su evaluación

The importance of adaptive expertise in CAD learning: maintaining design intent

In CAD modelling, there is no one general standardised teaching-learning methodology. We use the strategic-learning methodology, maintaining design intent, fully aware that it is necessary to modify CAD models for their reuse. Questions concerning the thought processes of students when modelling with CAD and the strategies that they choose that best maintain design intent arise in the course of using the 3D modelling programmes. Our aim here is to determine the importance of adaptive expertise in the results of CAD models and, particularly, in one of its constructs: design intent. To do so, CAD-based experimentation took place over two years with 78 third-year students in the first year and with 53 third-year students in the second year from the subject module of Graphic Engineering, on the Degree in Mechanical Engineering of the University of Burgos (Spain). At the start of the year, the students conducted a survey to measure adaptive expertise. Subsequently, in the first year of experimentation, the students prepared various CAD models and the design intent was evaluated in one of them (a connecting rod or conrod), broken down into the skeleton, the structure, the modifications and the constraints. In the conrod exercise, the students also completed a questionnaire both before and after designing their models, which were analysed to detect the thought processes and the strategies that they had applied. In the second year of experimentation, design intent was incorporated in various exercises at the beginning of the year, in addition to the conrod. The main conclusion is that the correct division of the part into its pieces and adaptive expertise improved the results in relation to design intent in the CAD. KEYWORDS: CAD learning, design intent (DI), adaptive expertise (AE), modification of CAD

Prediction of digestible energy content of extruded dog food by in vitro analyses

Following the NRC (1985), the estimation of energy in pet foods is based on the chemical proximate analysis, assuming constant crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and nitrogen free extract (NFE) digestibilities. Recently, factorial equations based on the close relationship existing between the energy digestibility of foods and their crude fiber content have been proposed as good approaches for predicting energy content of food (Kienzle et al., 1998; Castrillo et al., 2001). The aim of this study was to develop a simple and reproducible in vitro method for predicting apparent energy digestibility of dry extruded dog foods

Perception of risk in construction. Exploring the factors that influence experts in occupational health and safety.

Risk perception is studied in many research disciplines. Although many of the factors that influence the perception of risk in the field of occupational risk prevention are known, there is still no complete understanding of the ways in which professionals in this sector perceive risks. This study analyzes the incidence of sociodemographic variables (gender, age, university degree, seniority of the qualification and professional experience) in the perception of the probability and consequences of accident risk of a group of Construction Safety and Health Experts. Additionally, the incidence of these variables has been evaluated in various stages of a construction. On the basis of a questionnaire survey of 30 construction processes, and applying a linear multilevel regression model, statistically significant differences in perceived risk were obtained depending on the age of the Construction Safety Experts, while it was determined that there is no significant difference in the perception of risk between men and women in this professional sector. Greater discrepancies were found when evaluating the overall risk of construction activities in the early stages of a construction site. Nevertheless, in spite of the sociodemographic differences between Construction Safety Experts, we conclude that their risk assessments are highly coherent

Poultry by-product meals commercialised in Spain may vary considerably in their protein value and fat quality

Among the meat by-products, those coming from poultry arc usually considered as excellent sources of protein. However, different grades of rendered poultry products arc available and its composition and nutritional value can be quite variable depending on carcass, head, feet, viscera and even feather proportions in raw material, and on rendering process. This work shows the variation on amino acids and fatty acids content of different products commercialised in Spain as poultry by-product or poultry meals