The driver vigilance telemetric control system (DVTCS) : Investigating sensitivity to experimentally induced sleep loss and fatigue

Vigilance technologies are used in the Australian rail industry to address the risks associated with driver sleepiness and fatigue. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a new device, designed to detect lowered states of arousal using electrodermal activity (EDA), would be sensitive to experimentally induced sleepiness and fatigue. Fifteen individuals (7 of them female, 9 male; 18–32 years of age) spent 3 consecutive days in the laboratory, which included 1 night of sustained wakefulness (28 h). The participants completed a 10-min psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) and fatigue and sleepiness ratings every 2 h, and a 30-min driving simulator every 4 h. As was expected, simulated driving, PVT, and subjective ratings indicated increasing levels of sleepiness and fatigue during sustained wakefulness. The EDA device output did not coincide with these findings. The results indicated that the EDA indicator was not sensitive to increased sleepiness and fatigue at the levels produced in the present study

OCCURRENCE OF GASTRO-ITESTINAL PARASITES IN POLISH PRIMITIVE HORSES FROM THE ROZTOCZE NATIONAL PARK, POLAND

The study was performed to investigate the gastrointestinal parasite fauna using the method of diagnostic deworming in own modification in 29 Polish primitive horses (Equus caballus) from the Roztocze National Park, south-east of Poland. The parasite community was comprised of 35 species represented by three nematode families (Strongylidae, Ascaridae, Habronematidae), one cestode family (Anoplocephalidae) and larvae of insects from the family Gasterophilidae (Diptera). Strongylidae being 100 % prevalent was represented by 31 species from the subfamily Strongylinae (6 species) and Cyathostominae (25 species). Parascaris equorum was recorded in 48.3 %, Habronema muscae in 55.2 %, tapeworms (Anoplocephala perfoliata) in 24.1 % and Gasterophilus intestinalis larvae in 41.4 % of horses surveyed. The present results showed high prevalence of pathogenic intestinal parasites, which create the risk of health problems for horses living free in the reserve as well as stabled horses, when rarely treated.Обсуждаются результаты исследования желудочно-кишечной паразитофауны у 29 лошадей породы польський коник (Equus сaballus), которые разводятся в условиях вольного и конюшенного содержания в Розточанском национальном парке, что на юго-востоке Польши. При этом был использован метод диагностической дегельминтизации в собственной модификации. Выявлено, что сообщество паразитов состояло из 35 видов, которые были представлены семeйствами Strongylidae, Ascaridae, Habronematidae (Nematoda), Anoplocephalidae (Cestoda) и личинками насекомых из семейства Gasterophilidae (Diptera). Стронгилиды были найдены у всех исследованных лошадей (100 %) и представлены 31 видом из подсемейства Strongylinae (6 видов) и Cyathostominae (25 видов). Parascaris equorum был зафиксирован в 48,3 %, Habronema muscae в 55,2 %, ленточные черви (Anoplocephala perfoliata) в 24,1 % и личинки Gasterophilus intestinalis в 41,4 % исследованных лошадей. Полученные результаты выявили высокую распространенность патогенных кишечных паразитов, которые представляют опасность для здоровья лошадей в условиях вольного и конюшенного содержания, а также в случае нерегулярных антигельминтных обработок поголовья

Sources of atmospheric methane: Measurements in rice paddies and a discussion

The authors have made field measurements of methane fluxes from rice paddies, fresh water lakes, and saltwater marshes to infer estimates of the size of these sources of atmospheric methane. The rice-paddy measurements, the first of their kind, show that the principal means of methane escape is through the plants themselves as opposed to transport across the water-air interface via bubbles or molecular diffusion. Nitrogen-fertilized plants release much more methane than unfertilized plants but even these measured rates are only one fourth as large as those inferred early by Koyama and on which all global extrapolations have been based to date. They also compare their measured methane fluxes from lakes and marshes to similar earlier data and find that extant data and flux-measurement methods are insufficient for reliable global extrapolations

Documentary Evidence on Climate in Sixteenth-Century Europe

Abstract. The known documentary climatic evidence from six European countries-Switzerland, Germany, th