339 research outputs found

    The sympathetic trunk ganglia and their fate in northern German cutting plants

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    Deckblatt-Impressum persönlicher Dank Abkürzungsverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Tabellenverzeichnis Inhaltsverzeichnis Einleitung Literaturübersicht Material und Methoden Ergebnisse Diskussion Schlussfolgerungen Zusammenfassung Summary Literaturverzeichnis Anhang Danksagung SelbständigkeitserklärungAlle in Deutschland geschlachteten und über 24 Monate alten Rinder müssen auf BSE getestet werden. Die Probenahme erfolgt im Stammhirnbereich. Da sich die Prionen vor der Ausbreitung im Gehirn bereits im Tierkörper befinden können, stellen unerkannt mit BSE infizierte Tiere ein Restrisiko dar. Zur Minimierung dieses Risikos müssen bestimmte Gewebe, die in der Verordnung EG 999/2001 als spezifizierte Risikomaterialien definiert sind, nach der Schlachtung entfernt werden. Dennoch gibt es risikobehaftete Nervengewebe, die nicht unter diese Reglementierung fallen. Hierzu zählt der sympathische Grenzstrang mit seinen Ganglien als Teil des autonomen Nervensystems. Um einen Beitrag zur Bewertung des von diesen Ganglien ausgehenden Risikos zu leisten, wurden 37 RindfleischZerlegebetriebe im norddeutschen Raum besucht und der Verbleib dieser Gewebe im Laufe des Zerlegeprozesses untersucht. Es wurden kleine (Zerlegemenge <10 t/Woche), mittlere (Zerlegemenge 10-99 t/Woche) und große (Zerlegemenge 100-1000 t/Woche) Betriebe unterschieden. Der sympathische Grenzstrang wurde für die Untersuchung in 5 Abschnitte unterteilt (T1, T2-T6, T7-T13, L1-L6, S1-S5). In den Betrieben war die Möglichkeit gegeben, das die Ganglien enthaltene Gewebe in acht verschiedene Behältnisse zu sortieren (Verarbeitungsfleisch, Sonstiges Lebensmittelfleisch, Talg-Lebensmittel, Talg- sonstiges, Knochen-SRM, Knochen-TBA, Knochen-Industrie, Knochen-Lebensmittel). Diese Zuordnungen wurden protokolliert. Es wurden Daten von insgesamt 160 Zerlegern aufgenommen. Dabei wurde jeder Zerleger dreimal während seiner Arbeit beobachtet und die Ergebnisse vor Ort in einen Beobachtungsbogen eingetragen. Die einzelnen Abschnitte wurden uneinheitlich zugeordnet. Während die Ganglien des hinteren Brustbereiches (T7-T13) und des Kreuzbeines (S1-S5) fast immer am Knochen verblieben und zum Großteil mit der Wirbelsäule als SRM entsorgt wurden, gelangten das Ganglion stellatum (T1), die Ganglien des vorderen Brustbereiches (T2-T6) sowie die Ganglien des Lendenbereiches (L1-L6) zu verschieden hohen Anteilen in die Lebensmittelkette. Deutliche Unterschiede gab es in der Zuordnung der Abschnitte in Abhängigkeit von der Betriebsgröße. Auffallend war auch die variierende Zuordnung innerhalb eines Betriebes, wie sie in gut der Hälfte aller besuchten Betriebe beobachtet wurde. Die Zerleger eines Betriebes gaben entweder im Vergleich zueinander die Abschnitte in unterschiedliche Behältnisse, oder aber ein Zerleger sortierte während der drei Beobachtungen verschieden. Dabei varierte die Zuordnung in den Betrieben mit hoher Zerlegeleistung stärker als in den kleinen Betrieben. Da Betriebe mit großer Kapazität die Mehrheit der deutschen Rindfleischproduktion darstellen, sollte angestrebt werden, die Zerlegung insbesondere in diesen Betrieben zu vereinheitlichen. Auf Grund seiner Größe und entsprechend den Möglichkeiten der praktischen Umsetzbarkeit sollte zumindest das Ganglion stellatum als SRM deklariert werden. Für die weiteren Ganglien des Brustbereiches (T2-T13) und des Kreuzbereiches (S1-S5) scheint es ausreichend zu sein, Vorschriften zur Entfernung der anhaftenden Muskulatur und zur standardisierten Sägung der Querfortsätze von den Wirbelknochen zu formulieren. Die im Binde- und Fettgewebe der Filetkette liegenden Ganglien des Lendenbereiches (L1-L6) sind aufgrund ihrer Lage sehr schwer auffindbar. Daher können diese Ganglien in der Praxis nicht zuverlässig entfernt werden. Das von diesem Gewebe ausgehende Restrisiko muss in Kauf genommen werden.All cattle slaughtered at an age older than 24 months have to be tested mandatorily for BSE in Germany. Samples are taken from the brainstem. Given, that prions can occure in the body before being transfered to the brain, unrecognised infected cattle might represent a risk. To minimise that risk, Specified Risk Materials which are defined by the regulation (EC) 999/2001 have to be removed after slaughtering. However, there is residual nervous tissue that is not governed by this regulation. One of those is the sympathetic trunk with its ganglia as a part of the autonomous nervous system. To estimate the risk from these ganglia, their way during slaughter and cutting procedures was observed. Thirty seven cutting plants in Northern Germany were visited and data from 160 workers were taken. Cutting plants were characterised with regard to their capacity: small (cutting capacity under 10 tons per week), middle size (cutting capacity between 10 and 99 tons per week) and large plants (cuttig capacity 100 and more tons per week). For reasons of reproducibility, the trunk was separated into five parts during observation (T1, T2-T6, T7-T13, L1-L6, S1-S5). During cutting, ganglia containing tissues could be sorted into eight different boxes (meat for processing, other meat for consumption, fat for consumption, fat for other use, bones-industry, bones-consumption, bones-SRM, bones-disposal). Every worker was observed three times, the results were recorded in an observation sheet. The tissues were not sorted in the same way. Whereas the rear thoracic ganglia (T7-T13) and sacral ganglia (S1-S5) mostly remained in natural connection with the column bones and were littered as SRM, the ganglion stellatum (T1), the front thoracic ganglia (T2-T6) and also the lumbal ganglia (L1-L6) went into the food chain in different percentages. There was an obvious difference between cutting plants of different capacities. In addition, there was a difference between workers from the same plant in more than half of all visited plants. Either the workers of one plant sorted differently, or one worker acted differently during the observation period. Such differences were observed more frequently in large cutting plants than in smaller ones. To minimize the differences as much as possible, standardisation is needed. Due to the fact that the majority of beef would be produced in large plants, standard operation prescriptions should be introduced in particular in these large premises. Because of its size and after observation of the cutting procedure, in particular the stellate ganglia (T1) should be put on the list of SRM. For the other thoracic ganglia (T2-T13) and the sacral ganglia (S1-S5) standard operation prescriptions for the removal of the musculature that is associated with the spine and the removal of the transverse processes of the vertebraes are needed. The lumbal ganglia (L1-L6) are hidden between the connective and fat tissues of the filet chain. They could not be taken away in practise. The risk coming from these ganglia should be tolerated

    Nutrient Variations of Six Surface Water Bodies in McHenry County, IL

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    This research analyzes water quality from several ponds in McHenry County, Illinois, with a goal of developing a understanding of pollution sources and temporal variations in concentrations of nitrate, potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, and sodium. Over the past 25 years, the population of McHenry County has grown rapidly, with residential developments expanding into former farmlands. Yet, the county remains heavily agricultural, with roughly 60% of the surface area used for agricultural purposes. Concentrations of NO3-, P+, K+, Cl-, and Na+ were analyzed from six sites: two in subdivisions, two in farmland, and two near major highways. Data were collected once a week from June through July, and twice during November 2016. Data were collected using two methods: the first method involved a color change test to test for NO3- and Cl- using 5 mL samples. The second method tested for dissolved Na+, K+, and P+ by pipetting water samples onto filter papers which were subsequently dried and analyzed using XRF spectroscopy. High concentrations of NO3- and Cl- were 13.2 ppm and 0.4 ppm, respectively, with EPA limits of 10 ppm and 250 ppm, respectively. High concentrations of Na+, P+, and K+ were 215 ppm, 181 ppm, and 345 ppm of K+, respectively, with EPA limits of 20 ppm for Na+, 0.05 ppm for P+, and no limit for K+. With NO3-, Na+, and P+ being over the EPA limit during the testing period there is cause for concern for downstream pollution as well as pollution of aquifers that recharge locally

    Lidar-Derived Forest Metrics Are Critical for Predicting Snow Accumulation and Ablation in the Central Sierra Nevada, USA

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    Snowmelt is a critical source of water resources for ecosystems and communities surrounding the Sierra Nevada. Forest canopy controls critical mass and energy balance dynamics that can alter snowpack accumulation and ablation. In addition to changing climate dynamics that could shift the precipitation regimes of this region, an increase in ecosystem disturbance (e.g., drought, wildfires) creates dynamic forest structures that have the ability to drastically alter the snowpack. Forest management aims at creating resilient ecosystems but is often less explicitly focused on retaining the snowpack as a crucial water reservoir. It is important to constrain how fine-scale forest structures impact snowpack accumulation and persistence to predict future dynamics and inform management. However, while broad-scale forest structure metrics have been studied extensively in relation to snowpack, less is known about how fine-scale forest structure impacts snowpack. Light detection and ranging (lidar) data provide the opportunity to understand these complex dynamics using high resolution, spatially distributed points that capture detailed forest structure and snow depth. We use lidar collected over the course of multiple accumulation seasons both pre- and post-disturbance in Sagehen Creek Basin in the central Sierra Nevada to investigate how snowpack accumulation is impacted by fine-scale forest structure metrics, like leaf area index (LAI’) and the ratio of gap width to average tree height (openness) in a 30-meter grid cell. In addition, we use a series of measurements taken during the ablation season to understand how forest structures impact snow persistence. Through developing a refined space-for-structure processing protocol, we show a delicate balance between the fraction of forest cover (fVEG) and openness in an area that promotes snowpack accumulation and reduces ablation. In general, areas with lower fVEG (0.3) and smaller gaps (diameter/height ~0.1) increase accumulation. However, decreasing gap sizes and increasing fVEG can also lead to more ablation, supporting climate-driven paradigms that predict more ablation under the canopy in regions like the Sierra Nevada. Pre- and post-disturbance analyses show inconsistent patterns because of confounding accumulation and ablation dynamics at the date of collection. Our processing protocol and space-for-structure analysis provide a unique opportunity to understand lidar-derived forest-snow dynamics in a way that is transferrable to areas with varying vegetation and climate regimes

    Building a Non-native Speech Corpus Featuring Chinese-English Bilingual Children: Compilation and Rationale

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    This paper introduces a non-native speech corpus consisting of narratives from fifty 5- to 6-year-old Chinese-English children. Transcripts totaling 6.5 hours of children taking a narrative comprehension test in English (L2) are presented, along with human-rated scores and annotations of grammatical and pronunciation errors. The children also completed the parallel MAIN tests in Chinese (L1) for reference purposes. For all tests we recorded audio and video with our innovative self-developed remote collection methods. The video recordings serve to mitigate the challenge of low intelligibility in L2 narratives produced by young children during the transcription process. This corpus offers valuable resources for second language teaching and has the potential to enhance the overall performance of automatic speech recognition (ASR)

    Criatividade na pedagogia sociointeracionista e na Pedagogia Waldorf: implicações para o trabalho com superdotados

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    Este artigo é pioneiro na discussão do fenômeno da criatividade a partir de Vygotsky e de Rudolf Steiner, relacionando-o ao trabalho com superdotados. Seu objetivo é investigar a criatividade na abordagem sociointeracionista e na Pedagogia Waldorf e suas implicações para o trabalho com estudantes superdotados. À parte importantes diferenças, as propostas de Vygotsky e de Steiner vão ao encontro das necessidades de estudantes com altas habilidades/superdotação (AH/SD), principalmente quando ressaltam a mediação docente significativa. O professor, como principal mediador, é responsável pela proposta de ensino criativo e estético voltado ao amor ao conhecimento e à vida

    The Bold and the Beautiful: How Aspects of Personality Affect Foreign Language Pronunciation

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    In the main study, a group of Polish learners of English completed a number of mimicry tasks in three languages: Italian, Dutch and Chinese, as well as a narration task in English. Mimicry performance and English pronunciation were then assessed by native speakers and compared. Participants also completed a questionnaire concerning their feelings about the languages they were to mimic and a second questionnaire designed to detect affective factors such as language learning anxiety, as well as attitudes towards the pronunciation of Polish and English. The pilot study suggested that the perceived attractiveness of the foreign language to be mimicked did not affect the performance of most participants, and that mimicry skill was fairly constant across languages. However, those who were particularly concerned about their personal appearance showed greater fluctuation in their ability to mimic and their performance appeared to be influenced by their attitude towards the language. This is referred to by the author as the Cecily effect. That study also confirmed the results of my previous experimental work showing that mimicry skill is correlated to some degree with English language pronunciation and that both pronunciation and mimicry are negatively affected by high levels of anxiety. The main study sets out to investigate whether or not these conclusions hold true for a larger sample population and also seeks to determine the effect of confidence and willingness to take risks on scores for both foreign language pronunciation and mimicry exercises

    Effect of oxygen exposure on color stability of ground beef

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    Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 P57Master of ScienceAnimal Sciences and Industr

    Mechalele (Self-Playing Ukulele)

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    This project involves the design and implementation of a self-playing ukulele. The ukulele plays chords and plucks open strings based on a song or chord progression selected by the user. Each string on the ukulele has a designated hobby servo motor that plucks the string with pre-programmed timing as is shown in Figure 1 (3). The plucking is achieved by attaching a flexible piece of cardboard to the shaft of the servo to act as the guitar pick. By moving the motors together at once, the action of strumming can be approximated. The design uses the last three frets on the ukulele for pressing different strings and allows the ukulele to play different notes and chords. The strings are pressed by small push/pull solenoids (2) that are spring loaded to push the string when active and not touch the string when passive. The output of the system is controlled with user selection buttons that selects song or tuning mode for the ukulele from an LCD display (6). The user can either select tuning or song playing mode using three pushbuttons. In tuning mode, a speaker plays the desired note for a string and the LCD display prompts the user to pluck that string. The frequency of the note is detected from a microphone and the display tells the user if the string is tuned, too high, or too low
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