Measurement of kick loads from horses on stable fittings and building elements

Fittings and fixtures in horse stables may cause injuries to horses when trapped and there is a great risk of an accident to animal and handler when releasing a horse. The risk of injuries to horses and handlers must be minimised by correct structural design and appropriate choice of building material. The physical load of horse kicks were measured in order to obtain data for the design of safe horse fittings and fixtures. To record the forces exerted by horse kicks a measuring wall and a computerised measuring system were constructed and used in single horse boxes. For reference, the characteristics of the measuring system were determined by a drop hammer test. Through regression analysis a linear relation was found between the field recorded impact values from horse kicks obtained by the measuring system and drop hammer impact values. The drop hammer method can thus be used to test fittings. Impacts recorded in the field tests were rapid, often shorter than 0.03 s and 90% had a maximum value below 1924 N. The greatest impact force and impulse caused by a horse kick were 8722 N and 131 N s respectively, with no statistical difference between provoked and unprovoked kicks. Considering the data obtained and allowing a certain safety margin, the impact resistance of horse fixtures and fittings in single horse boxes, to be used for horses of up to 700 kg mass, should be at least equivalent to 150 Ns exerted by a horse shoe at 45°

A high resolution analysis of macroscopic charcoal deposited in peat

The amount of macroscopic charcoal in the top 25 cm of three cores from a peat land in Hornsö Ecopark, south-eastern Sweden, was compared to the dendrochronology inferred fire history of the site. Because of the occurrence of a recent fire ex-situ (1999) and one fire ¬in-situ inferred by three fire scared Scots pines, Pinus sylvestris, adjacent (5-10 m) to the peat cores, the site provided an excellent opportunity to compare the abundance of charcoal deposited in a peat land after fires in-situ and ex-situ. The objectives of the study were threefold: 1) to investigate the relationship between numbers of charcoal fragments (#/cm3) and measured fragment area (mm2/cm3); 2) to test if the smaller size classes could be excluded without changing the signal from the charcoal profile significantly; and 3) to compare the abundance of charcoal deposited between a fire in-situ and ex-situ. The number of charcoal fragments and the measured charcoal area exhibited a highly significant correlation (P 0.28 mm with those > 0.50 mm in diameter the same charcoal peak pattern emerged. The two size classes also showed a highly significant correlation (P < 0.001 in two and P < 0.05 in one of the cores). Even if ambiguity arose concerning which charcoal peak that should represent the fire of 1908, the fire of 1999 did not produce a clear peak in the charcoal profile. It was concluded that the parameter "number of charcoal fragments" is preferred over the measured charcoal area in most cases. Even if the > 0.28 and > 0.50 mm size classes exhibited the same charcoal peak profiles one should be cautious to exclude the 0.28-0.50 mm class. The study suggests that fires in-situ depose more charcoal in the peat stratigraphy than fires ex-situ

Evaluation of the Mineral Concentration in Beef from Polish Native Cattle

Inflammation has been proposed to play a role in the generation of depressive symptoms. Previously, we demonstrated that patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have increased plasma levels of the soluble form of the urokinase receptor (suPAR), a marker for low-grade inflammation. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that acute exercise would induce inflammatory response characterized by increased suPAR and elucidate whether patients with MDD display altered levels of suPAR in response to acute exercise. A total of 17 patients with MDD and 17 controls were subjected to an exercise challenge. Plasma suPAR (P-suPAR) was analyzed before, during, and after exercise. There was a significantly higher baseline P-suPAR in the patients with MDD, and the dynamic changes of P-suPAR during the exercise were significantly lower in the patients with MDD, compared with the controls. This study supports the hypothesis that an activation of systemic inflammatory processes, measured as elevated P-suPAR, is involved in the pathophysiology of depression. The study concludes that P-suPAR is influenced by acute exercise, most likely due to release from activated neutrophils

Measurement of kick loads from horses on stable fittings and building elements

Fittings and fixtures in horse stables may cause injuries to horses when trapped and there is a high risk of an accident to animal and handler when releasing a horse. The risk of injuries to horses and handlers must be minimised by correct structural design and appropriate choice of building material. The physical load of unprovoked and provoked horse kicks were measured in order to obtain data for the design of safe horse fittings and fixtures. To record the forces exerted by horse kicks a measuring wall and a computerised measuring system were constructed and used in single horse boxes. For reference, the characteristics of the measuring system were determined by a drop hammer test. Through regression analysis a linear relation was found between the field recorded impact values from horse kicks obtained by the measuring system and drop hammer impact values. The drop hammer method can thus be used to test fittings. Impacts recorded in the field tests were rapid, often shorter than 0.03 s and 90% had a maximum value below 1924 N. The greatest impact force and impulse caused by a horse kick were 8722 N and 131 Ns respectively, with no statistical difference between provoked and unprovoked kicks. Considering the data obtained and allowing a certain safety margin, the impact resistance of horse fixtures and fittings in single horse boxes, to be used for horses of up to 700 kg mass, should be at least equivalent to 150 Ns exerted by a horse shoe at 45°

Säkra häststall - hästens sparkbelastning på inredning och byggnadskonstruktioner

Hästar kan skada sig på inredning och boxmellanväggar (exempelvis galler) och riskerna för såväl djur som människa kan också vara stora då hästen ska frias från att ha fastnat. Rapporten redovisar en studie vars syfte var att betydligt minska risken för skador på och olyckor med häst orsakade av hästsparkar. Oavsett hållning av hästar i enhästboxar eller i grupp i lösdrift måste skaderisken för såväl häst som skötare minimeras genom en korrekt hållfasthetsdimensionering och lämpligt val av byggnadsmaterial och utformning. Mätningar utfördes av de krafter som en häst kan åstadkomma vid sparkar mot inredningen. Detta gjordes med hjälp av en ”mätvägg”, försedd med lastgivare och datoriserat mätsystem, som placerades framför en mellanvägg i ett antal hästboxar. I vissa fall provocerades hästarna genom att variera häst i grannbox, utfodringstidpunkt, utsläpp till rasthagar efter andra hästar etc. Från ägarna insamlades uppgifter om hästarna med avseende på ålder, kön, ras, vikt, mankhöjd, mätplats, mätperiod och om hästen varit oprovocerad eller provocerad vid mättillfället. Registreringen av hästsparkar utfördes under totalt 6,5 månader och ca 500 registrerade mätvärden erhölls. De flesta stötarna, ca 90 %, hade ett maximivärde under 1924 N. Den totala stötförloppstiden var kort. För 93 % av stötarna var varaktigheten mellan 0,001 och 0,05 sekunder. Högsta uppmätta stötkraft, orsakad av en hästspark, uppgick till 8722 N, motsvarande ett impulsvärde på 131 Ns eller ca 300 J anslagsenergi . Stötarnas fördelning över dygnet visar att dessa sammanföll med dagliga aktiviteter såsom t.ex. utfodring morgon och kväll. Resultaten uppvisade ingen signifikant skillnad mellan maximala stötkraften för provocerad häst jämfört med oprovocerad häst. För att kontrollera mätväggen, och erhålla ett samband mellan stötkrafter registrerade från hästsparkar respektive från en fallhejare i laboratorium, utfördes en mätserie där mätväggen placerades under en fallhejare. Ett samband erhölls mellan fallhejarens teoretiska rörelseenergi och anslagsimpuls och de mätvärden som registreras med hjälp av mätväggen. Detta utnyttjades för kalibrering av mätväggen. Fallhejarmetoden föreslås kunna användas för provning av inredningsdetaljer