Evaluation and Analysis of the ANSI X3T9.5 (FDDI) PMD and Proposed SMF-PMD as Influenced by Various Fiber Link Characteristics

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the operational parameters of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) fiber optic cable plant. The evaluation is based on the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) and Single Mode Fiber (SMF) PMD standards. From the KSC fiber profile, it would be necessary to develop the modifications needed in existing FDDI PMD and proposed SMF-PMD standards to provide for FDDI implementation and operation at KSC. This analysis should examine the major factors that influence the operating conditions of the KSC fiber plant. These factors would include, but are not limited to the number and type of connectors, attenuation and dispersion characteristics of the fiber, non-standard fiber sizes, modal bandwidth, and many other relevant or significant fiber plant characteristics that effect FDDI characteristics. This analysis is needed to gain a better understanding of overall impact that each of these factors have on FDDI performance at KSC

A Graph Description Language for Blind Programmers

Sighted people often overestimate the usefulness of tactile diagrams for blind people who need to perceive and comprehend entities and relationships in visual structural graphs. Sighted software developers can acquire an overview of the structure of a Unified Modeling Language (UML) design diagram after a quick visual scan. Blind developers using tactile diagrams are impeded by the serial nature of scanning these diagrams with their fingers. However, blind programmers are experts at using text-to-speech screen readers to verbalize lines of existing code at a very rapid rate. Comprehending and debugging code with a screen reader happens extremely quickly because blind developers have a lot of practice using such tools. This paper reports on using a block-structured diagram description language with syntax and keywords similar to modern programming languages to capture and communicate entities and relationships in standard UML diagram types. Prototype software tools include utilities for verifying textual UML models, for converting between textual representations useful to blind versus sighted programmers, and for generating visual diagrams for communications with colleagues. Creating this language in support of a blind student in an object oriented design course helped to accelerate acquisition and communication of design concepts among students and the instructor

Teaching New Zealand histories : a policy watershed or a watershed policy? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology, Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

This is a study of the Sixth Labour Government's policy mandating the teaching of New Zealand histories in all schools and kura by 2022, for all levels of the compulsory curriculum (school years 1-10). This research explores the origins of the policy and asks the question why a policy approach was taken, rather than other approaches available to the Government, or the Ministry of Education, to achieve the policy outcomes. Looking at this through the theoretical frameworks of policy anthropology and applying the non-linear thinking of an assemblage methodology, I explore my own perceptions of this policy. I track the way this policy evolved through the documentation, the public consultation on the curriculum changes, and eventual release of the new curriculum and supporting resources. I argue that various human and non-human actors and influences, which I term components, were arranged in such ways that they created an environment, or zeitgeist, which manifested the policy. In taking this approach I sought to avoid accepting explanations that linear chains of causality led to the policy’s development. Instead, I sought to perceive the components in the environment as actors in a drama choreographed not by discreet forces, but by their own movements causing their interactions, proximities, and intensities to shape the environment from which the policy emerged. This research does not focus on humans and non-human actors but more on the interactions of forces which were generated as they negotiated the paths and shaped the environment in which they themselves exist

Antimicrobial activity of Lactobacillus strains of chicken origin against bacterial pathogens

This study was conducted to identify and evaluate the antimicrobial activity of some Lactobacillus isolates of chicken origin. Among 90 isolates 14 Lactobacillus species were distinguished using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and 16S-ARDRA. The dominant species was L. salivarius (34.4%), followed by L. johnsonii (23.3%), L. crispatus (13.3%) and L. reuteri (11.1%). All lactobacilli were screened for antimicrobial activity against wild-type strains of Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium perfringens. Results from the agar slab method showed that all Lactobacillus isolates were able to produce active compounds on solid media with antagonistic properties against these pathogens. The highest sensitivity to lactobacilli was observed in C. perfringens strains, and the lowest in E. coli. Lactobacillus salivarius exhibited particularly strong antagonism towards all of the indicator bacteria. Strains of L. ingluviei and L. johnsonii and one strain of L. salivarius (10d) selectively inhibited the growth of C. perfringens. No antimicrobial activity of many Lactobacillus isolates was observed when cell-free culture supernatant was used in a well diffusion assay. All Lactobacillus isolates exhibited the ability to produce H2O2 and proved to be hydrophobic (excluding one of L. salivarius). [Int Microbiol 19(1):57-67 (2016)]Keywords: Lactobacillus spp. · avian lactobacilli · antimicrobial activity · gut health · poultry pathogen

The Lifeguard Rescue Reporting System: Survey Results from a Collaborative Data Collection Method

Several water safety organizations have attempted to improve reporting regarding lifeguard actions in order to better understand the characteristics of successful, non-fatal rescues. In 2003, a collective effort initiated the Lifeguard Rescue Reporting System, an online survey distributed to lifeguards and facility managers across the United States and Canada to better understand rescue actions performed in pools/spas, water parks, and open water areas. After seven years of data collection, the online survey accumulated data reflecting 1,676 rescue actions, collecting information including location, victim characteristics and outcome, rescuer characteristics and strategies, and other general circumstances. Descriptive results indicated that at least half of victims were 14 years old or younger across all settings. Depths of 0.9-1.5m (3-5 ft) represented the range at which incidents most frequently occurred in pools and spas and waterparks, whereas the depth of incidents was generally deeper in natural and open waterways. During rescue incidents, water safety personnel generally identified victims either visually (83-92% of the time) and/or audibly (18-29%), although victim “profiling” was also employed 10-14% of the time to identify at-risk swimmers. Notably, across all three water setting types, no medical aid was required in most cases (60-72%), suggesting the efficacy and essentiality of lifeguards as aquatic first responders. Accordingly, as water-based recreation maintains its popularity, systematically collecting and analyzing data specific to everyday, rescue actions are critical to improving lifeguard education and strategic, data-based operating procedures

Analysis and Rebuttal of Development of an In-Water Intervention in a Lifeguard Protocol

We review the paper by Hunsucker and Davison published in the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education in 2010. The authors’ two-part goal was to describe a protocol they named “in-water intervention” (IWI) that uses abdominal thrusts (ATs) and to report on its effectiveness at assisting drowning victims in waterparks. We identify serious shortcomings in the paper’s methodology, interpretation and use of the literature, and ethical principles. We conclude that their primary assertions were unsubstantiated by the evidence they presented

Učinak odabranih makrolida na neka obilježja goveđih leukocita

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of tylosin, tilmicosin and roxithromycin on viability, nitro blue tetrazolium reduction (NBT) assay, chemotaxis, apoptosis and oxidative stress in bovine leukocytes in vitro conditions. The material for the study consisted of blood collected into EDTA tubes from the external jugular vein of Holstein-Friesian cattle aged 1 week to 2.5 years, during routine veterinary examinations. In leukocytes the percent of viability, nitrate ion concentration (NO), metabolic activity (NBT, nitrotetrazolium blue reduction assay), chemotactic activity and apoptosis were determined. The results indicated a slight negative effect of these macrolides on the viability of the leukocytes, and confirmed the ability of macrolides to induce apoptosis in leukocytes in vitro. These results indicate that all of the macrolides investigated exhibit a modulatory effect on the functions of leukocytes isolated from cattle of different ages. The strongest inhibitory effect on the NBT reduction assay and chemotaxis of the leukocytes was exhibited by roxithromycin, which at the same time had the least negative effect on the leukocytes.Cilj je ovog istraživanja bio procijeniti učinak tilozina, tilmikozina i roksitromicina na preživljavanje, test redukcije “nitro-tetrazol-modrog” (NBT), kemotaksiju, apoptozu i oksidacijski stres goveđih leukocita u uvjetima in vitro. Prilikom rutinskog veterinarskog pregleda, u epruvete s EDTA bila je uzeta krv iz jugularne vene goveda holštajnsko-frizijske pasmine u dobi od tjedan dana do 2,5 godine. Određen je postotak preživljavanja leukocita, koncentracija iona nitrata (NO), metabolička aktivnost (test redukcije “nitro-tetrazol-modrog”, NBT), kemotaksijska aktivnost i apoptoza. Rezultati su pokazali blagi negativni učinak spomenutih makrolida na preživljavanje leukocita i potvrdili sposobnost makrolida da potaknu njihovu apoptozu in vitro te naznačuju da svi pretraženi makrolidi imaju modulacijski učinak na funkciju leukocita goveda različite dobi. Najjači inhibicijski učinak na test redukcije NBT i kemotaksiju leukocita pokazao je roksitromicin, koji je istodobno imao najmanje negativan učinak na leukocite

Primary and Secondary Drowning Interventions: The American Red Cross Circle of Drowning Prevention and Chain of Drowning Survival

Creating awareness about primary and secondary interventions that can be used in situations involving drowning is an important prevention strategy. Consistent among reports from almost all countries is that drowning injury steals life from young children, followed by youth, and then young adults. As a result of the on-going need to reduce these types of statistics, the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council – Aquatic Sub Council established two intervention programs to address both sides of drowning events. Content of this manuscript is based on work by members of the Aquatic Sub Council. It focuses on describing and providing scientific rationale for two educational programs designed to approach the issue of drowning from both a primary and secondary intervention perspective. Presented are the Circle of Drowning Prevention and the Chain of Drowning Survival along with the thought processes and foundational research that brought them into existence. Both intervention programs are currently being used in educational materials and marketing efforts within American Red Cross water safety materials