Efficiency of low versus high airline pressure in stunning cattle with a pneumatically powered penetrating captive bolt gun

The efficiency of stunning cattle was assessed in 443 animals (304 pure Zebu and 139 crossbred cattle), being mainly mature bulls and cows. Cattle were stunned using a Jarvis pneumatically powered penetrating captive bolt gun operating with low (160–175 psi, N = 82) and high (190 psi, N = 363) airline pressure, which was within the manufactures specifications. Signs of brain function and the position of the shots on the heads were recorded after stunning. Velocity of the captive bolt and its physical parameters were calculated. Cattle shot with low pressures showed more rhythmic respiration (27 vs. 8%, P < 0.001), less tongue protrusion (4 vs. 12%, P = 0.03) and less masseter relaxation (22 vs. 48%, P < 0.001). There was an increased frequency of shots in the ideal position when cattle were shot with the low compared to high airline pressures (15.3 vs. 3.1%). Bolt velocity and its physical parameters were significantly (P < 0.01) higher when using high pressure. Airline pressures below 190 psi are inappropriate when shooting adult Zebu beef cattle with pneumatically powered penetrating captive bolt guns

Constraints on the Polarization of the Anomalous Microwave Emission in the Perseus Molecular Complex from 7-year WMAP data

We have used the seven year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data in order to update the measurements of the intensity signal in the G159.6-18.5 region within the Perseus Molecular Complex, and to set constraints on the polarization level of the anomalous microwave emission in the frequency range where this emission is dominant. At 23, 33 and 41 GHz, we obtain upper limits on the fractional linear polarization of 1.0, 1.8 and 2.7% respectively (with a 95 per cent confidence level). These measurements rule out a significant number of models based on magnetic dipole emission of grains that consist of a simple domain (Draine & Lazarian 1999) as responsible of the anomalous emission. When combining our results with the measurement obtained with the COSMOSOMAS experiment at 11 GHz (Battistelli et al. 2006), we find consistency with the predictions of the electric dipole and resonance relaxation theory (Lazarian & Draine 2000) at this frequency range.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, ApJ submitte

Some properties of two Nambu--Jona-Lasinio -type models with inputs from lattice QCD

We investigate the phase diagram of the so-called Polyakov--Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model at finite temperature and nonzero chemical potential. The calculations are performed in the light and strange quark sectors ($u$, $d$, $s$), which includes the 't Hooft instanton induced interaction term that breaks the axial symmetry, and the quarks are coupled to the (spatially constant) temporal background gauge field. On one hand, a special attention is payed to the critical end point (CEP). The strength of the flavor-mixing interaction alters the CEP location, since when it becomes weaker the CEP moves to low temperatures and can even disappear. On the other hand, we also explore the connection between QCD, a nonlocal Nambu--Jona-Lasinio type model and the Landau gauge gluon propagator. Possible links between the quenched gluon propagator and low energy hadronic phenomenology are investigated.Comment: Contribution to the International Meeting "Excited QCD", Peniche, Portugal, 06 - 12 May 201

Tools for online collaboration: do they contribute to improve teamwork?

In the last decades, the fast growth of Information and Communication Technologies changed our way to communicate and share information. Traditional groups or teams frequently give way to virtual teams, working with tools for online collaboration. Interaction between persons geographically dispersed has become easier. However, the use of new collaboration tools can also bring many challenges. Some technologies, like e-mail, can create delays on reply or even misunderstandings, case the message is not well understood by the recipient. Can these new technologies improve the productivity and enhance the creativity between group members, improving also their confidence and motivation? Although virtual teams have a high capacity to adapt to constant market changes, personal interactions are still important, mainly to clarify tasks and goals. The main purpose of this study is to understand how tools for online collaboration may improve the productivity (and enhance creativity) in teamwork. This study was conducted through an internet platform and the survey was hosted online by SurveyMonkey.com. We intended to verify, among other questions, what users think about different collaboration tools, how often they use these tools, and how they perceive these technologies as adequate ways to communicate, to work with, and to improve productivity. Findings show that e-mail is the most used tool, and personal contact is still more important for teamwork than any tools for online collaboration. Our results contribute to perceive in what extent collaboration tools are indeed an asset or a barrier in teamwork.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quality Assurance System to monitor the teaching and learning process at the University of Aveiro (Portugal)

At the University of Aveiro (UA), in Portugal, institutional initiatives are being undertaken so that high levels of quality teaching and learning are achieved. This paper presents (a) the design of an evaluation model for quality assurance of teaching and learning and (b) the results of its application in a pilot study that ran in 2008/09 at the Departments of Electronics and Telecommunications, and Physics, of the UA. The Quality Assurance System (QAS) to monitor the process of teaching and learning at the UA emerges as extremely important, not only to regulate the teaching and learning process, following the quality assurance orientations at a national and international level, but also to reflect and share teaching practices that enhance the whole academic experience, both from students, teachers, and researchers‟ perspectives. The authors explore the design of the model and some findings of the pilot study, more specifically the identification of problematic and good practice situations identified by the students‟ survey and reports

Towards a free-free template for CMB foregrounds

A full-sky template map of the Galactic free-free foreground emission component is increasingly important for high sensitivity CMB experiments. We use the recently published \ha data of both the northern and southern skies as the basis for such a template. The first step is to correct the \ha maps for dust absorption using the 100 $\mu$m dust maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis (1998). We show that for a range of longitudes, the Galactic latitude distribution of absorption suggests that it is 33 per cent of the full extragalactic absorption. A reliable absorption-corrected \ha map can be produced for $\sim 95$ per cent of the sky; the area for which a template cannot be recovered is the Galactic plane area $|b| < 5^{\circ}$, $l=260^{\circ}-0^{\circ}-160^{\circ}$ and some isolated dense dust clouds at intermediate latitudes. The second step is to convert the dust-corrected \ha data into a predicted radio surface brightness. The free-free emission formula is revised to give an accurate expression (1 per cent) for the radio emission covering the frequency range 100 MHz to 100 GHz and the electron temperature range 3000 to 20000 K. The main uncertainty when applying this expression is the variation of electron temperature across the sky. The emission formula is verified in several extended H{\sc ii} regions using data in the range 408 to 2326 MHz. A full-sky free-free template map is presented at 30 GHz; the scaling to other frequencies is given. The Haslam et al. all-sky 408 MHz map of the sky can be corrected for this free-free component, which amounts to a $\approx 6$ per cent correction at intermediate and high latitudes....Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in M.N.R.A.S. High-resolution versions of figs 2,7 (in colour), 9 and 11 can be obtained from ftp://ftp.jb.man.ac.uk/pub/cdickins/ff_paper/FINAL_FIGURES