Automated grazing management

Management-intensive grazing is a grazing management strategy that relies on careful monitoring of animals at pasture and frequent relocation of animals between various regions of the pasture, or paddocks, in order to maximize the nutrients and sustenance the animals obtain through grazing. When applied successfully, this approach to grazing management yields higher animal production, while cutting feed costs; however, a great deal of overhead is introduced in monitoring and moving the animals throughout the pasture, making this approach very difficult to implement at a large scale. Recent successes in the field of dynamic virtual fencing have demonstrated the feasibility of automatically restraining and moving cattle within a pasture, and without the need to build or move fences. This technology may be used to reduce the physical overhead of management-intensive grazing, but it does not address the decision-making aspects. This thesis proposes a decision-making system to be used in conjunction with dynamic virtual fence technology to implement a fully-automated intensive grazing management strategy. The system has been implemented and tested in simulation, and the results thereof are presented and analyzed

Carboplatin-Induced Bilateral Papilledema: A Case Report

We report on a patient with carboplatin-induced bilateral papilledema, as it was described in the 1970s for cisplatin. Loss of visual accuracy up to full blindness, often loss of color vision and scotomas can be seen as a result of cortical blindness, macula degeneration, retrobulbar neuritis and papilledema. These symptoms are mostly unilateral and initially mild, so that more chemotherapy is given before the diagnosis is made. The symptoms are usually reversible within weeks to months after cessation of the platinum treatment. The therapeutic strategy is stopping the platinum treatment. In addition the empiric use of corticosteroids is suggested

The clinical value of [90Y-DOTA]-D-Phe1-Tyr3-octreotide (90Y-DOTATOC) in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumours: A clinical phase II study

Purpose: The aim of this phase II study was to evaluate the tumour response of neuroendocrine tumours to targeted irradiation with the radiolabelled somatostatin analogue 90Y-DOTATOC. In addition, the palliative effect of 90-Y-DO-TATOC treatment on the malignant carcinoid syndrome and tumour-associated pain was investigated. Patients and methods: Forty-one patients (mean age 53 years) with neuroendocrine gastroenteropancreatic and bronchial tumours were included. Eighty-two percent of the patients had therapy resistant and progressive disease. The treatment con sisted of four intravenous injections ofa total of 6000 MBq/m2 90Y-DOTATOC, administered at intervals of six weeks. Results:The overall response rate was 24%. For endocrine pancreatic tumours it was 36%. Complete remissions (CR) were found in 2% (1 of 41), partial remissions (PR) in 22% (9 of 41), minor response in 12% (5 of 41), stable disease (SD) in 49% (20 of4l) and progressive disease (PD) in 15% (6 of4l). The median follow up was 15 months (range 1 month to 36 months). The median duration of response has not been reached at 26 months. The two-year survival time was 76 ± 16%. Eighty-three percent of the patients suffering from the malignant carcinoid syndrome achieved a significant reduction of symptoms. The treatment was well tolerated. A reduction of pain score was observed in all patients (5 of 41) with morphine dependent tumour-associated pain. Side effects included grade LU (NCIGC) pancytopenia in 5%, and vomiting shortly after injection in 23%. No grade III—IV renal toxicity was observed. Conclusion: Targeted radiotherapy with 90Y-DOTATOC is a novel, well-tolerated treatment for neuroendocrine turnours with a remarkable objective response rate, survival time, and symptomatic respons

Statistical aspects in the Styrian Salmonella surveillance program in pigs

Surveillance and Monitoring programs to substantiate freedom of disease are becoming increasingly important. Sample sizes and the right selection of the samples play a decisive role. In the course of this paper the sampling schemes for the Styrian Salmonella surveillance program in pigs are presented. The influence of diagnostic tests on the result of the estimation of prevalence is discussed and different sample sizes depending on the sensitivity and the specificity of the used diagnostic test are calculated

Results of the Styrian Salmonella surveillance in pigs

A comprehensive study has been performed to obtain an overview of the Salmonella situation in Styrian slaughter pig herds. Based on a representative sampling plan 833 slaughter pigs were tested for Salmonella in four test series (winter 1997 to summer 1998). The samples, faeces as well as mesenteric and liver lymph nodes, were taken directly at the slaughter line and examined in the laboratory within 24 hours. The examination of the slaughter pigs so far yielded a Salmonella detection rate of 2.9% and a confidence interval (S =95%) from 1.9% to 4.2%. Salmonella was most frequently isolated from the mesenteric and liver lymph nodes (20 isolates; 2.4% ), but was found in the intestinal contents in only 7 cases (0.8% ). In three slaughter pigs both lymph nodes and intestinal contents were Salmonella-positive. The total of 27 Salmonella isolates comprised six different serovars. The most frequent serovars were S. enteritidis, S. typhimurium and S. hadar. 4 serovars of S. typhimurium DT 104 and 5 serovars of S. hadar were identified as multiresistent. The examination of the cut surfaces of 1,040 split carcasses by means of a wipe swab sample yielded a Salmonella detection rate of 0.4%. In the serological examination of 2,3 10 blood samples of slaughter pigs from 330 pig farms, using the SALMOTYPE0 Meat Juice ELISA, 14 animals (0.6%)from IOfarms (3%) were found to be positive, and 41 animals (1.8%) from 27 farms (8.2%) were suspected to be positive. 2,255 samples (97.6%) from 293 herds (88.8%) were found to be negative

Is diversity good?

Prominent ethical and policy issues such as affirmative action and female enrollment in science and engineering revolve around the idea that diversity is good. However, even though diversity is an ambiguous concept, a precise definition is seldom provided. We show that diversity may be construed as a factual description, a craving for symmetry, an intrinsic good, an instrumental good, a symptom, or a side effect. These acceptions differ vastly in their nature and properties. The first one cannot lead to any action and the second one is mistaken. Diversity as intrinsic good is a mere opinion, which cannot be concretely applied; moreover, the most commonly invoked forms of diversity (sexual and racial) are not intrinsically good. On the other hand, diversity as instrumental good can be evaluated empirically and can give rise to policies, but these may be very weak. Finally, symptoms and side effects are not actually about diversity. We consider the example of female enrollment in science and engineering, interpreting the various arguments found in the literature in light of this polysemy. Keywords: ethics, policy, higher education, female students, minority students, affirmative actionComment: 7 page

Screening protocol for iodine-specific getters in YMP-related invert applications.

This document defines a standardized screening protocol for use in developing iodine ''getters'' for placement in the proposed YMP-repository invert. The work was funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), Office of Science and Technology International (S&T) during 2004-2005. First, the likely environmental conditions in the invert are reviewed as a basis for defining the thermal and geochemical regimes in which a getter must function. These considerations, then, served as the basis for laying out a hierarchy of materials screening tests (Table 1). An experimental design for carrying out these screening tests follows next. Finally, the latter half of the document develops methods for preparing test solutions with chemistries that relate to various aspects of the YMP-repository environment (or, at least to such representations as were available from program documents late in 2004). Throughout the document priority was given to defining procedures that would quickly screen out unpromising candidate materials with a minimum amount of labor. Hence, the proposed protocol relies on batch tests over relatively short times, and on a hierarchy of short pre-test conditioning steps. So as not to repeat the mistakes (and frustrations) encountered in the past (notably in preparing WIPP test brines) particular care was also given to developing standardized test solution recipes that could be prepared easily and reproducibly. This document is principally intended for use as a decision-making tool in evaluating and planning research activities. It is explicitly NOT a roadmap for qualifying getters for actual placement in the repository. That would require a comprehensive test plan and a substantial consensus building effort. This document is also not intended to provide a complete list of all the tests that individuals may wish to carry out. Various materials will have their own peculiar concerns that will call for additional specialized tests. In many cases additional research will also be needed to verify the exact nature of the chemical process responsible for scavenging the iodine from the test solutions