Choosing, assembling and using bridles

"Bridles are used to control horses and achieve desired performance. Although horses can be worked without them or with substitutes, a bridle with one or two bits can add extra finesse. The bridle allows you to communicate and control your mount. For it to work properly, you need to select the bridle carefully according to the needs of you and your horse as well as the type of performance you expect. It must also be assembled correctly. Although there are many styles of bridles, the procedures for assembling and using them are similar."--First page.Melvin Bradley (Department of Animal Science College of Agriculture), and Samuel W. Sabin (Department of Animal Science, Cornell University)New 12/82/10

A Web-based Point of Sales for Automotive Component Industry using Rapid Application Development model

This research aims to increase efficiency in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the automotive components industry, focusing on CV Bengkel Megamakmur. This workshop is one of the MSMEs engaged in Indonesia's car spare parts industry. In the ongoing business process, these MSMEs need some help in inventory management, stock of goods, and less integrated sales transaction recording. The main problem identified was the discrepancy between the number of products sold and sales transaction reports. A web-based Point of Sale (POS) application was implemented, which allows the integration of inventory data and sales transactions. The method used in this research is Rapid Application Development (RAD), suitable for projects with limited resources and short work schedules. This research results in a Point of Sale application that can optimize business processes for managing inventory by monitoring stock and recording sales transactions in an integrated manner. This application has been tested using the System Usability Scale (SUS) method and obtained an average score of 86.6, included in the "very good" category. The test results show that this application has good functionality and can optimize MSME business processes in the automotive components industry

Sustainability of Small Community Water Systems in Ghana: A Case Study of Navrongo Municipal Area

Access to safe and clean drinking water is necessary for ensuring good health and the well-being of human societies by reducing the burden of water-related diseases associated with dependence on unsafe water sources. To this end, most communities are provided with boreholes or small community mechanised systems where a centralised water treatment plant is absent. However, issues relating to the sustainability of these systems has become a big challenge to most of these communities mainly due to poor management. This research assessed the operation and maintenance (O&M) schemes of these water facilities within the Navrongo Municipality of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were administered in twenty (20) beneficiary communities to elicit information regarding the involvement of the community members in the general process leading to the provision of the water facility and its management. In addition, the providers of these facilities were interviewed to assess their level of involvement in their maintenance. The survey revealed that community members contributed towards the provision of the facilities, with 68% of the contributions being in the form of labour. Although 90% of the respondents admitted to the existence of Water and Sanitation Management Teams (WSMTs), 81% of them felt that the team members lacked good management skills.  63% agreed to the need for an upward review of the tariffs in order to meet the cost of O&M. In addition to providing requisite skills and capacity in community mobilization, WSMTs should be incentivised to ensure effective tariff mobilisation. Keywords: Water systems, small communities, sustainable management, operation and maintenance. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/9-10-11 Publication date:October 31st 201

Lessons Learned in Applying the U.S. EPA Proposed Cancer Guidelines to Specific Compounds

An expert panel was convened to evaluate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Proposed Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment” through their application to data sets for chloroform (CHCl3) and dichloroacetic acid (DCA). The panel also commented on perceived strengths and limitations encountered in applying the guidelines to these specific compounds. This latter aspect of the panel’s activities is the focus of this perspective. The panel was very enthusiastic about the evolution of these proposed guidelines, which represent a major step forward from earlier EPA guidance on cancer-risk assessment. These new guidelines provide the latitude to consider diverse scientific data and allow considerable flexibility in dose-response assessments, depending on the chemical’s mode of action. They serve as a very useful template for incorporating state-of-the-art science into carcinogen risk assessments. In addition, the new guidelines promote harmonization of methodologies for cancer- and noncancer-risk assessments. While new guidance on the qualitative decisions ensuing from the determination of mode of action is relatively straightforward, the description of the quantitative implementation of various risk-assessment options requires additional development. Specific areas needing clarification include: (1) the decision criteria for judging the adequacy of the weight of evidence for any particular mode of action; (2) the role of mode of action in guiding development of toxicokinetic, biologically based or case-specific models; (3) the manner in which mode of action and other technical considerations provide guidance on margin-of-exposure calculations; (4) the relative roles of the risk manager versus the risk assessor in evaluating the margin of exposure; and (5 ) the influence of mode of action in harmonizing cancer and noncancer risk assessment methodologies. These points are elaborated as recommendations for improvements to any revisions. In general, the incorporation of examples of quantitative assessments for specific chemicals would strengthen the guidelines. Clearly, any revisions should retain the emphasis present in these draft guidelines on flexibility in the use of scientific information with individual compounds, while simultaneously improving the description of the processes by which these mode-of-action data are organized and interpreted

Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of graphene oxide – fungal hyphae: An efficient and reclaimable adsorbent for chromium(VI) removal from aqueous solution

In this study, a hybrid film bio-nanocomposite material was developed based on the graphene oxide/fungal hyphae (GO-FH) interaction. The developed GO-FH bio-nanocomposite material was used for the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution. The GO-FH bio-nanocomposite material was prepared by ultrasonic irradiation technique. The synthesized GO-FH bio-nanocomposite material was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM and TGA. The adsorption experiments were carried out in batch mode to optimize parameters such as pH, adsorbent dosage, initial Cr(VI) ion concentration, contact time and shaking speed. The results indicated that the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto GO-FH bio-nanocomposite material was pH dependant, with the maximum adsorption capacity of 212.76 mg/g occurred at pH 2.0. The adsorption studies followed, Langmuir isotherm and pseudo second order kinetic model. Findings demonstrates that GO-FH bio-nanocomposite material exhibited excellent regeneration performance

Evaluation of the INCREMENT-CPE, Pitt Bacteremia and qPitt Scores in Patients with Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Infections Treated with Ceftazidime–Avibactam

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive performance of the INCREMENT-CPE (ICS), Pitt bacteremia score (PBS) and qPitt for mortality among patients treated with ceftazidime–avibactam for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections. Methods Retrospective, multicenter, cohort study of patients with CRE infections treated with ceftazidime–avibactam between 2015 and 2019. The primary outcome was 30-day all-cause mortality. Predictive performance was determined by assessing discrimination, calibration and precision. Results In total, 109 patients were included. Thirty-day mortality occurred in 18 (16.5%) patients. There were no significant differences in discrimination of the three scores [area under the curve (AUC) ICS 0.7039, 95% CI 0.5848–0.8230, PBS 0.6893, 95% CI 0.5709–0.8076, and qPitt 0.6847, 95% CI 0.5671–0.8023; P > 0.05 all pairwise comparisons]. All scores showed adequate calibration and precision. When dichotomized at the optimal cut-points of 11, 3, and 2 for the ICS, PBS, and qPitt, respectively, all scores had NPV > 90% at the expense of low PPV. Patients in the high-risk groups had a relative risk for mortality of 3.184 (95% CI 1.35–8.930), 3.068 (95% CI 1.094–8.606), and 2.850 (95% CI 1.016–7.994) for the dichotomized ICS, PBS, and qPitt, scores respectively. Treatment-related variables (early active antibiotic therapy, combination antibiotics and renal ceftazidime–avibactam dose adjustment) were not associated with mortality after controlling for the risk scores. Conclusions In patients treated with ceftazidime–avibactam for CRE infections, mortality risk scores demonstrated variable performance. Modifications to scoring systems to more accurately predict outcomes in the era of novel antibiotics are warranted