Effect of electrical stimulation of carcasses from Dorper sheep with two permanent incisors on the consumer acceptance of mutton: review article

The inconsistency in the eating quality characteristics of meats, predominantly tenderness, is probably the most critical problem faced by the meat industry worldwide. Consumers consider tenderness to be the single most important component of meat quality. An alternative method for increasing meat tenderness may exist in the form of electrical stimulation of the carcass shortly following slaughter. The aim of this research was to study the effect of electrical stimulation on the consumer acceptance of, preference for and consumption intent regarding mutton of the recently introduced class-AB sheep carcasses (carcasses from sheep with one to two permanent incisors) in South Africa. A total of 22 wethers of class-AB, weighing between 45 and 50 kg, was selected from a homogeneous group of Dorpers. Carcasses were divided into two groups, one was electrically stimulated (0.4 amp/h for 45 sec) and the other group not stimulated. Samples of the left M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum of both groups were oven roasted and a consumer panel evaluated the acceptability of the mutton regarding certain sensory characteristics. Three consumer sensory tests, namely the hedonic rating of the acceptability of each sensory attribute, a preference test and a food action rating test, were conducted in sequence. The acceptability of the juiciness, tenderness, flavour and overall acceptability were not significantly influenced by the electrical stimulation of carcasses. Samples from both the electrically stimulated and non-stimulated carcasses were highly acceptable to consumers. No significant differences in preference or percentage cooking losses were obtained. The present results indicate that electrical stimulation of class-AB carcasses did not have a significant influence on the consumer's acceptance of, nor consumption intent towards the class-AB mutton. This study shows that consumers revealed a positive attitude by declaring their intention to eat samples from both electrically stimulated and non-electrically stimulated carcasses once a week. Moreover, the variation in shear force values of meat samples from the electrically stimulated group was less compared to that of the non-stimulated group, indicating that electrical stimulation can successfully be applied to reduce the variation in tenderness within the class-AB mutton. Keywords: Class AB-mutton, Electrical stimulation, Consumer acceptance, Tenderness South African Journal of Animal Science Vol.33(3) 2003: 206-21

How Patient Educators Teach Students: “Giving a Face to a Story”

Patient Educators are persons with specific pathologies that have participated in an education program in which they learn how to instruct students on physical examinations. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of graduate student experiences with Patient Educators during coursework on occupational therapy clinical internships. A phenomenological design was used to explore the lived experiences of students through a qualitative interview. As participants described their experiences with the Patient Educators, three primary themes emerged: (a) self-awareness, (b) confidence, and (c) empathy. The quotes from the transcriptions were organized into four sequential plot categories: (a) Before the Interaction, (b) During the Interaction, (c) Immediate Change, and (d) Impact on Clinical Internship. The results reveal a narrative of the learning process experienced by students from before the Patient Educators lab through clinical internships. These results suggest that incorporating Patient Educators in the classroom could be a critical component in preparing students for clinical internship and future clinical practice

Social networking : a psycho-educational analysis of online adolescent friendships

Online adolescent friendships and social networking among adolescents are current phenomena that have emerged, and exploded, as part of the digital age and the vast development of communication technologies. The primary aim of this study was to gain knowledge and understanding regarding the nature and quality of online friendships and social networking among adolescents. A sequential explanatory mixed method design, was put to use for the purpose of this study. The quantitative data was collected first in the form of a short survey, by utilising a self-developed questionnaire to obtain a general overview of the social network practices and the forming and maintaining of online friendships among adolescents. Twenty five participants took part in the survey. This study was followed by a qualitative study in the form of interviews, to clarify, elaborate and explain the quantitative findings. Five information rich participants were interviewed. The findings of the empirical investigation revealed that adolescents, being part of the Net Generation, base their concept of socialising with friends on digital and communication technology, especially cell phones. They are connected to their friends 24 hours a day. The sense of safety and support they experience through this constant connectedness strengthens their self-esteem, self-confidence and self-worth and contributes to their identity formation. It is therefore recommended that parents and educators should accept that adolescents live in a virtual world and their new way of socialising, needs to be acknowledged. Parents and educators should adjust accordingly, by getting educated in this field themselves. The Net Generation is a generation who focuses on relationships and collaboration through technology and this should be exploited by anybody who has contact or interacts with the adolescent of today.Psychology of EducationM. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling

The mobile phone as an extention of the self : a study among adolescents in a secondary school

The mobile phone forms part of a teenager’s life world and reality today and can be regarded as a tool with which they not only communicate, but also use them to gain access to the Internet, social media and social networking sites. The primary aim of this study was to determine if the mobile phone, with all its functionalities, has an impact on the development of the adolescent’s identity formation, social development and communication skills as well as the sense of the self. Another objective of this study was to determine what the opinions and perceptions are of older generations with regard to mobile practices of the youth. A concurrent triangulation mixed method design was utilised for the purpose of the study. The quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted simultaneously and the data and results from each method were integrated and interpreted as a whole. The quantitative data gathering method was short self-structured questionnaires that were completed by learners (190), teachers (35) and parents (21) to provide a general overview of mobile usage among adolescents. A single-group pre-test post-test experimental design and individual interviews were conducted with eight volunteers. Lastly, 12 learners took part in a focus group interview as a confirmation technique for all the information that was gathered. The findings of the empirical investigation revealed that the mobile phone is used nowadays as a social tool, a planning tool and a convenience tool. The constant connectedness the mobile phone provides, strengthens the adolescents’ self-esteem and self-confidence and contributes strongly to their self-worth. The mobile phone is used as a self-expressive personalised tool and forms part of the sense of the adolescent self. It was also found that adolescents build their relationships with others on a two-dimensional platform that involves online and offline communication and activities. A definite gap exists between older generations’ perceptions and adolescents in connection with the ways that adolescents use their mobile phones nowadays. Parents and teachers have to accept the fact that technology forms part of today’s youth and they should change their mind-sets with regard to this complicated and complex phenomenon.Psychology of EducationD. Ed. (Psychology of Education

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Social technology of mobilizations: identity and participation in the management of communitybased museums

O objetivo deste artigo é propor novas estratégias de gestão para iniciativas museológicas comunitárias. Consideramos a participação e a identidade territorial como forças essenciais desse tipo de iniciativas, permitindo o desenvolvimento de processos de gestão mais dinâmicos e territorializados. O resultado da pesquisa é a ‘Tecnologia Social das Mobilizações’ (TMob), composta por quatro mobilizações estratégicas e integradas de forma orgânica (mobilização cultural, mobilização museológica técnica, organizacional e interorganizacional). Fruto de pesquisa qualitativa, análise documental e experiências de museus dentro e fora do Brasil, a TMob busca ser útil para líderes comunitários, empreendedores socioculturais, gestores do setor público, promovendo a proliferação e o florescimento de museus que desencadeiem novos padrões de desenvolvimento e sociedades mais equitativas.The purpose of this paper is to propose strategies for community-based museum initiatives. Thus, we assume participation and territorial identity as key strengths of this type of initiative, allowing the development of more dynamic and territorialized management processes. The research’s result is the ‘Social Technology of Mobilizations’ (TMob), composed by four strategic and organically integrated mobilizations (cultural mobilization, Museology-technical, - organizational and – interorganizational mobilizations). Based on qualitative research, document analysis and museums experiences, inside Brazil and abroad, the TMob seeks to be relevant to community leaders, sociocultural entrepreneurs, and the public managers, fostering the proliferation and flourishing of museums that trigger new patters of inclusive development and egalitarian societies

The Missing Margin: How Sample Corruption Affects Distance to the Boundary in ANNs

Classification margins are commonly used to estimate the generalization ability of machine learning models. We present an empirical study of these margins in artificial neural networks. A global estimate of margin size is usually used in the literature. In this work, we point out seldom considered nuances regarding classification margins. Notably, we demonstrate that some types of training samples are modelled with consistently small margins while affecting generalization in different ways. By showing a link with the minimum distance to a different-target sample and the remoteness of samples from one another, we provide a plausible explanation for this observation. We support our findings with an analysis of fully-connected networks trained on noise-corrupted MNIST data, as well as convolutional networks trained on noise-corrupted CIFAR10 data.Comment: This work is a preprint of a published paper by the same name, which it subsumes. This preprint is an extended version: it contains additional empirical evidence and discussio

Intensity level for exercise training in fibromyalgia by using mathematical models

Background: It has not been assessed before whether mathematical models described in the literature for prescriptions of exercise can be used for fibromyalgia syndrome patients. the objective of this paper was to determine how age-predicted heart rate formulas can be used with fibromyalgia syndrome populations as well as to find out which mathematical models are more accurate to control exercise intensity.Methods: A total of 60 women aged 18-65 years with fibromyalgia syndrome were included; 32 were randomized to walking training at anaerobic threshold. Age-predicted formulas to maximum heart rate (220 minus age and 208 minus 0.7 x age) were correlated with achieved maximum heart rate (HRMax) obtained by spiroergometry. Subsequently, six mathematical models using heart rate reserve (HRR) and age-predicted HRMax formulas were studied to estimate the intensity level of exercise training corresponding to heart rate at anaerobic threshold (HRAT) obtained by spiroergometry. Linear and nonlinear regression models were used for correlations and residues analysis for the adequacy of the models.Results: Age-predicted HRMax and HRAT formulas had a good correlation with achieved heart rate obtained in spiroergometry (r = 0.642; p < 0.05). for exercise prescription in the anaerobic threshold intensity, the percentages were 52.2-60.6% HRR and 75.5-80.9% HRMax. Formulas using HRR and the achieved HRMax showed better correlation. Furthermore, the percentages of HRMax and HRR were significantly higher for the trained individuals (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Age-predicted formulas can be used for estimating HRMax and for exercise prescriptions in women with fibromyalgia syndrome. Karnoven's formula using heart rate achieved in ergometric test showed a better correlation. for the prescription of exercises in the threshold intensity, 52% to 60% HRR or 75% to 80% HRMax must be used in sedentary women with fibromyalgia syndrome and these values are higher and must be corrected for trained patients.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Espirito Santo, Vitoria, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

La canción de cuna en el Poema de Dánae (fr. 271 P.) de Simónides de Ceos, Arrastradores de redes (fr. 47a R.) de Esquilo y el Idilio XXIV de Teócrito: un análisis textual y literario

Este trabajo se propone explorar las particularidades literarias y morfosintácticas de la canción de cuna presente en el Poema de Dánae (fr. 271 P.) de Simónides, Arrastradores de redes (fr. 47a R.) de Esquilo y el Idilio XXIV de Teócrito. El objetivo es demarcar las características comunes entre los cantos y analizar los recursos retóricos y temáticos utilizados como estrategia de los poetas para caracterizar el discurso directo de determinados personajes (mujeres y sátiros). Se espera llegar a una delimitación del género de la canción de cuna como tal y considerar tanto su contexto de performance como lo escaso de su conservación

Pronunciation modelling and bootstrapping

Bootstrapping techniques have the potential to accelerate the development of language technology resources. This is of specific importance in the developing world where language technology resources are scarce and linguistic diversity is high. In this thesis we analyse the pronunciation modelling task within a bootstrapping framework, as a case study in the bootstrapping of language technology resources. We analyse the grapheme-to-phoneme conversion task in the search for a grapheme-to-phoneme conversion algorithm that can be utilised during bootstrapping. We experiment with enhancements to the Dynamically Expanding Context algorithm and develop a new algorithm for grapheme-tophoneme rule extraction (Default & Refine) that utilises the concept of a ‘default phoneme’ to create a cascade of increasingly specialised rules. This algorithm displays a number of attractive properties including rapid learning, language independence, good asymptotic accuracy, robustness to noise, and the production of a compact rule set. In order to have greater flexibility with regard to the various heuristic choices made during rewrite rule extraction, we define a new theoretical framework for analysing instance-based learning of rewrite rule sets. We define the concept of minimal representation graphs, and discuss the utility of these graphs in obtaining the smallest possible rule set describing a given set of discrete training data. We develop an approach for the interactive creation of pronunciation models via bootstrapping, and implement this approach in a system that integrates various of the analysed grapheme-to-phoneme alignment and conversion algorithms. The focus of this work is on combining machine learning and human intervention in such a way as to minimise the amount of human effort required during bootstrapping, and a generic framework for the analysis of this process is defined. Practical tools that support the bootstrapping process are developed and the efficiency of the process is analysed from both a machine learning and a human factors perspective. We find that even linguistically untrained users can use the system to create electronic pronunciation dictionaries accurately, in a fraction of the time the traditional approach requires. We create new dictionaries in a number of languages (isiZulu, Afrikaans and Sepedi) and demonstrate the utility of these dictionaries by incorporating them in speech technology systems.Thesis (PhD (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006.Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineeringunrestricte