2,147 research outputs found
Realising context-sensitive mobile messaging
Mobile technologies aim to assist people as they move from place to place going about their daily work and social routines. Established and very popular mobile technologies include short-text messages and multimedia messages with newer growing technologies including Bluetooth mobile data transfer protocols and mobile web access.Here we present new work which combines all of the above technologies to fulfil some of the predictions for future context aware messaging. We present a context sensitive mobile messaging system which derives context in the form of physical locations through location sensing and the co-location of people through Bluetooth familiarity
Banning the use of pots and other management introduced in Bermuda to protect declining reef fish stocks
Effects of standardized ileal digestible tryptophan:lysine ratio in diets containing 30% dried distiller grains with solubles on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs in a commercial environment
Two experiments were performed to determine the effects of increasing standardized
ileal digestible (SID) tryptophan to lysine (trp:lys) ratio in growing-finishing pig diets
containing 30% dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS). In both experiments,
soybean meal replaced crystalline lysine and threonine to alter the dietary SID trp:lys
concentrations while maintaining minimum ratios of other amino acids. In Exp. 1, a
total of 638 pigs (PIC 1050 × 337, initially 80.0 lb) were used in a 105-d trial with 26
to 27 pigs per pen and 6 pens per treatment. Pens of pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of
4 dietary treatments with standardized ileal digestible trp:lys ratios of 14.0, 15.0, 16.5,
and 18.0%. All diets were fed in meal form and treatments were fed in 4 phases. For the
overall trial, ADG and ADFI increased (linear; P < 0.001) as trp:lys increased through
18%; however, the response tended to be quadratic from d 0 to 42, with optimal ADG
and ADFI at 16.5% SID trp:lys. Feed efficiency was not influenced by SID trp:lys ratio.
Although feed cost per pig increased (linear; P < 0.001) as SID trp:lys ratio increased,
so did (linear; P < 0.04) final live weight, HCW, income per pig, and income over feed
cost (IOFC). The results of this experiment indicated the optimal SID trp:lys ratio was
16.5% from 80 to 160 lb, but at least 18% from 160 to 265 lb.
In Exp. 2, a total of 1,214 pigs (PIC 1050 × 337, initially 146.2 lb) were used in a 73-d
finishing trial with 25 to 28 pigs per pen and 9 pens per treatment. Pens of pigs were
randomly allotted to 1 of 5 treatment groups. Pigs were fed common diets before the
start of the experiment. Dietary treatments included corn-soybean meal-based diets
with SID trp:lys ratios of 15.0, 16.5, 18.0, and 19.5, and the 15.0% diet with L-tryptophan
added to achieve 18.0% SID trp:lys ratio. Overall (d 0 to 73), ADG, ADFI, F/G,
final weight, and HCW improved (linear; P < 0.03) as dietary SID trp:lys increased
through 19.5%. Increasing SID trp:lys increased (linear; P < 0.001) feed cost per pig,
but also increased (P < 0.01) total income per pig. While there were no differences on
an IOFC basis, pigs fed the highest level of SID trp:lys had numerically the greatest
IOFC. Overall, there were no significant differences between the diet with 18.0% SID
trp:lys and the diet with 15.0% SID trp:lys with added L-tryptophan to 18.0%. These experiments demonstrate there is opportunity to improve growth performance in
late-finishing pigs with increased SID trp:lys ratios in diets containing high amounts of
DDGS
Thrombotic and Infectious Risks of Parenteral Nutrition in Hospitalized Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Background Malnutrition is common in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), requiring timely and sufficient nutritional supplementation. In patients hospitalized for active disease, symptoms and/or altered intestinal function hinder enteral nutrition feasibility. In this scenario, parenteral nutrition (PN) is used. We aimed (1) to assess the frequency of PN use between 1997 and 2012 among hospitalized pediatric patients with IBD, (2) to determine the risk of in-hospital thrombus and infection associated with PN, and (3) to identify predictors of thrombus and infection in pediatric IBD hospitalizations utilizing PN. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of pediatric patients hospitalized between 1997 and 2012. We used the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) to identify pediatric patients (ó18 years of age) with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC), PN exposure, and primary outcomes including thrombus and infection. We used multivariable regression to identify risk factors for outcomes of interest. Results Parenteral nutrition was utilized in 3732 (12%) of 30,914 IBD hospitalizations. Three percent of PN patients experienced a thrombotic complication, and 5.5% experienced an infectious complication. Multivariate analysis showed PN as an independent risk factor for thrombus (odds ratio [OR], 4.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2-5.6) and infection (OR, 3.8; 95% CI, 3.1-4.6). Surgery was an independent risk factor for thrombus (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.4-2.7) and infection (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 2.0-3.1) in hospitalizations exposed to PN. Conclusions Hospitalized pediatric IBD patients, particularly surgical, receiving PN are at increased risk for thrombosis and infection. Clinicians must balance these risks with the benefits of PN
The use of wide-mesh gauze impregnated with lambda-cyhalothrin covering wall openings in huts as a vector control method in Suriname
Plasma Turbulence in the Local Bubble
Turbulence in the Local Bubble could play an important role in the
thermodynamics of the gas that is there. The best astronomical technique for
measuring turbulence in astrophysical plasmas is radio scintillation.
Measurements of the level of scattering to the nearby pulsar B0950+08 by
Philips and Clegg in 1992 showed a markedly lower value for the line-of-sight
averaged turbulent intensity parameter is smaller than normal for two of them, but is completely nominal for
the third. This inconclusive status of affairs could be improved by
measurements and analysis of ``arcs'' in ``secondary spectra'' of pulsars.Comment: Submitted to Space Science Reviews as contribution to Proceedings of
ISSI (International Space Science Institute) workshop "From the Heliosphere
to the Local Bubble". Refereed version accepted for publicatio
Scattering mechanism in a step-modulated subwavelength metal slit: a multi-mode multi-reflection analysis
In this paper, the scattering/transmission inside a step-modulated
subwavelength metal slit is investigated in detail. We firstly investigate the
scattering in a junction structure by two types of structural changes. The
variation of transmission and reflection coefficients depending on structural
parameters are analyzed. Then a multi-mode multi-reflection model based on ray
theory is proposed to illustrate the transmission in the step-modulated slit
explicitly. The key parts of this model are the multi-mode excitation and the
superposition procedure of the scatterings from all possible modes, which
represent the interference and energy transfer happened at interfaces. The
method we use is an improved modal expansion method (MEM), which is a more
practical and efficient version compared with the previous one [Opt. Express
19, 10073 (2011)]. In addition, some commonly used methods, FDTD, scattering
matrix method, and improved characteristic impedance method, are compared with
MEM to highlight the preciseness of these methods.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figure
I=3/2 Scattering in the Nonrelativisitic Quark Potential Model
We study elastic scattering to Born order using
nonrelativistic quark wavefunctions in a constituent-exchange model. This
channel is ideal for the study of nonresonant meson-meson scattering amplitudes
since s-channel resonances do not contribute significantly. Standard quark
model parameters yield good agreement with the measured S- and P-wave phase
shifts and with PCAC calculations of the scattering length. The P-wave phase
shift is especially interesting because it is nonzero solely due to
symmetry breaking effects, and is found to be in good agreement with experiment
given conventional values for the strange and nonstrange constituent quark
masses.Comment: 12 pages + 2 postscript figures, Revtex, MIT-CTP-210
f0(980) meson as a K bar K molecule in a phenomenological Lagrangian approach
We discuss a possible interpretation of the f0(980) meson as a hadronic
molecule - a bound state of K and bar K mesons. Using a phenomenological
Lagrangian approach we calculate the strong f0(980) to pi pi and
electromagnetic f0(980) to gamma gamma decays. The compositeness condition
provides a self-consistent method to determine the coupling constant between f0
and its constituents, K and bar K. Form factors governing the decays of the
f0(980) are calculated by evaluating the kaon loop integrals. The predicted
f0(980) to pi pi and f0(980) to gamma gamma decay widths are in good agreement
with available data and results of other theoretical approaches.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, revised version accepted for publication in
Eur. Phys. J.
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