The role of the milking machine in the aetiology and epidemiology of bovine mastitis.

Mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland that causes major economic losses In developed dairy countries. A great deal of research has been directed toward the identification of machine factors related to mastitis. The milking machine has little effect on the new mastitis infection rate if it is installed, operated and functions according to internationally recognised standards. Its role in causing mastitis is often overestimated. It has proven difficult to produce mastitis experimentally soley by altering machine functions within accepted parameters. Although not a direct prerequisite for mastitis, the milking machine has significant effects upon the aetiology and epidemiology of mastitis. These effects may operate directly by increasing the new intramammary infection rate, or indirectly by increasing the risk of exposure of the mammary gland to mastitis-causing organisms, and reducing disease resistance in the cow

A longitudinal study of mastitis on an experimental farm with two herds, one managed organically, the other conventionally.

Mastitis in two herds managed as a comparison between organic and conventional dairy farming systems was monitored for 4 years utilising regular bacterial culture of milk samples, individual and bulk somatic cell counts and observation by farm staff. The objective was to develop strategies for the control of mastitis in organic cows without the use of antibiotics. The herds showed differences in clinical mastitis incidence, subclinical mastitis prevalence and bulk milk somatic cell count. Despite these differences, the level of mastitis in the organic herd remained manageable

Milk composition changes during mastitis.

No abstract availabl

Outbreak of teat lesions in a herd in Northland.

No abstract availabl

From crisis to crisis: the high cost of the post-soviet institutional lock-in

In this contribution, we shall try to characterise the Russian growth model the way it appears to have emerged in the 2000s, which we believe useful to explain the country's macroeconomic successes at an earlier stage as well as the severe problems it has to face now. We shall begin by presenting the macroeconomic indicators of the Russian Federation between the 1998 crash and up to the recent 2008 crisis, showing their very significant improvements in practically every area (part 1). However, the qualitative aspects of the economic growth suggest asking whether one the main reasons of Russia's economic success (high commodity prices) did not make it seriously sick with the “Dutch disease” (part 2). We shall further show that the impressive growth before the 2008 crisis was followed by a yet more impressive shock hitting the economy to the extent that very few analysts had imagined (part 3). We believe that the propagation of the crisis was amplified by the specific features of the capitalist system that emerged in Russia in the 2000s, particularly its “international regime” (part 4). We conclude our contribution by saying that the Russian model in the 2000 appeared to be intrinsically unstable before suggesting possible scenarios of finding paths to a sustainable growth model.Russia - diversity of Capitalism - exportism - dutch disease - resource curse - post-soviet transformation

Anomaly monitoring framework based on intelligent data analysis.

Real-time data processing has become an increasingly important challenge as the need for faster analysis of big data widely manifests itself. In this research, several Computational Intelligence methods have been applied for identifying possible anomalies in two real world sensor-based datasets. By achieving similar results to those of well respected methods, the proposed framework shows a promising potential for anomaly detection and its lightweight, real-time features make it applicable to a range of in-situ data analysis scenarios

THE EUROPEAN UNION’S SOFT POWER: THE ENLARGEMENT PROCESS AND THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

The primary motive of this research is the specific form of soft power the EU uses in its policy, especially the enlargement policy. Thus, over comprehensive analyze of its policy, researching the previous experiences in this field, the ongoing process with the candidate members, and using the method of case study with the Republic of Macedonia in particular, we can see closer how the soft power works in this part of its policy and in which forms it is expressed. According to the research and the results, we could see the differences between the other power of the EU used in its policy and the specific form of soft power used in the Enlargement policy. This type of power is collocated of various elements such as Copenhagen criteria, progress reports, and for the very first in the case with the Republic of Macedonia is launched the High-Level Accession Dialogue. Despite the complicated process and endless framework followed by the slow development in the state policy, the survey results with positive public opinion on the sole enlargement process and the EU membership

Development of Information Management solution for measuring people performance

Internship Report presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceThe main objective of this report is share my internship experience at Closer Consulting, Portuguese Consultancy Company that specializes in Business Intelligence and Advanced Analytics and the challenges I faced during that period. The project analyses different principles of Business Intelligence and Human Resources, and proposes an Information Management add‐on for the Evalyze Suite, developed by Closer Consulting. The proposed information management solution should be used as a tool to support the decision making process of businesses and organizations that are already using or intends to use Evalyze in their Business Intelligence activities. As a result, the proposed tools should be capable of providing insights on the daily operational tasks and help produce reports for the top management. The main challenge that emerged in this project was delivering a business intelligence solution that propose new metrics in the field that no one was measuring, and to re‐inventing the how performance management is conducted in the customer care department of both individuals businesses and organizations, and call centers. In addition, the report highlights the best practices of developing a Business Intelligence solution in order to support critical decision during the development of this solution. My experience as an intern inspired me to take up the challenge and use my internship experience to complete my master’s project

Meta-Analysis: Job Satisfaction and Job Performance Moderated by National Economic Development and Performance Scales

Job satisfaction and job performance are some of the most researched topics in the organizational literature. These have prompted academics to test the strength of this relationship with meta-analysis. However, some academics state that job satisfaction contributes to job performance while others say that it might be that job performance leads to job satisfaction. The most probable explanation is that this relationship is affected by moderators and mediators. This paper tests the moderators of national economic development (developed vs developing countries) and the moderator of self vs other-rated job performance in a meta-analysis study