Academic literature on the topic 'OFF-period'

AbstractAfter finding more planets than expected at the shortest period, there has been an effort to explain their numbers by weak tidal friction. However, we find that the strength of tidal dissipation that would produce the occurence distribution found from Kepler planet candidates is different for giant versus medium radii planets. This discrepancy can be resolved if there is a “flow” of the largest planets regularly arriving such that they go through a “hot Jupiter” stage. We also show a correlation of higher stellar Fe/H with higher eccentricity of giant planets that may be from smaller planets having been sent into the star by the migration of the larger planet. This disruption of the orbits of medium and smaller planets could account for the lower occurrence of “hot Neptune” medium radius planets.

This thesis presents an archaeological survey of 12 islands off the north coast of Ireland in the· post~medieval period (1700-1847). The islands included are located from Rathlin off County Antrim, west to Tory and south to Inishfree Upper off County Donegal.·It seeks to achieve an understanding of the process of social and landscape change in the ei~hteenth and early nineteenth centuries as well as the motivating factors behind these transformations. During the course of fieldwork 338 archaeological sites were recorded (volume II). In addition, a limited programme of geophysical survey and diver inspection was undertaken. The sites represent a wide range of activities reflective of island life in the Age of Improvement. There is a pronounced maritime focus in the survey, including kelp processing sites, boat landing places and shelters, and fishing practises. Wider landscape issues include changes to field systems, evolving settlement patterns and the architectural features of vernacular and estate houses.

The physical demands (high-intensity running and sprinting) of football match-play place footballers at increased risk of hamstring injuries. Some of the negative effects of a hamstring injury such as neuromuscular deficits and a decrease in performance are already known. While previous injury and age are known risk factors for future hamstring injuries, their relationship with the changes in eccentric hamstring strength and performance during the offseason in semi-professional footballers have not been studied. Moreover, a variety of resistance training interventions aiming at improving physical performance and strength are available in the literature, with inertial flywheel resistance training arising lately and providing promising results. The thesis aimed to firstly compare the use of inertial flywheel with gravity-dependent resistance training for improving physical performance and thigh muscle strength and, secondly, to test how previous injury, age and the off-season period affects physical performance and eccentric hamstring strength in semi-professional and amateur footballers
Les demandes condicionals (carreres a alta-intensitat i esprints) dels futbolistes en un partit es relacionen amb un increment del risc de lesions de la musculatura isquiosural. Alguns dels efectes negatius relacionats aquestes lesions són els dèficits neuromusculars i la reducció del rendiment. La història de lesió i l’edat són factors de risc per futures lesions, tot i que la relació amb la força excèntrica i el rendiment durant el període transitori en futbolistes semiprofessionals no s’ha estudiat detalladament. Existeixen diferents mètodes d’entrenament per poder millorar el rendiment i la força, on l’entrenament amb màquines inercials està donant resultats interessants. Els objectius de la tesi són, comparar l’ús de l’entrenament amb màquines inercials amb l’entrenament amb mètodes gravitacionals per la millora del rendiment físic i la força; i avaluar si la lesió prèvia, l’edat i el període transitori afecten el rendiment i la força excèntrica isquiosural en futbolistes semiprofessionals i amateurs
Programa de Doctorat en Biologia Molecular, Biomedicina i Salut

High-pass filtering that is one of the most efficient methods in removing long-period noise of accelerograms is investigated for its effect on nonlinear oscillator deformation response. Within this context, uncertainty in filter cut-off periods that would significantly modify the low-frequency content of accelerograms come into prominence for obtaining reliable long-period displacement response. Analog and digital ground-motion records from recently compiled Turkish strong-motion database are used and these records are high-pass filtered with a consistent methodology by randomly generated filter cut-offs that represent different filter cut-off decisions of the analysts. The uncertainty in inelastic spectral and residual displacements (SDIE and SDR, respectively) due to variations in filter cut-offs is examined to derive the usable period ranges where the effect of high-pass filtering is tolerable. Non-degrading, stiffness degrading and stiffness and strength degrading oscillator behavior are considered in these analyses. The level of nonlinear behavior in single degree of freedom (SDOF) response is described by varying the yield strength (R, normalized yield strength) and displacement ductility (µ
) levels. The usable period ranges that depend on magnitude, recording quality, level of inelasticity and level of degradation are determined for SDIE through robust probabilistic methodologies.

investment evaluation of solar electric power station, two main parts, first focus on evaluation before positive decision about making investment, second part reflects the present situation, use economic criterion: net present value, internal rate of return, pay-off period and additional indices

Personer som utför skiftarbete ingår i en riskgrupp för hälsorelaterade påfrestningar som resultat av en svårighet att utveckla personliga rutiner för kost, vila och friskvård. Nautiker som arbetar på fartyg där tvåvaktssystem om sex timmar tillämpas ingår således i denna riskgrupp där arbetet i regel förläggs koncentrerat över en längre tidsperiod. I denna studie presenteras en undersökning om hur personer med erfarenhet av tvåvaktssystem upplever förutsättningarna för att skapa sunda rutiner för vila, kost och friskvård. Resultatet är en berättelse om upplevda förutsättningar och i det har följande två intressanta slutsatser framkommit: Respondenterna upplever att frivaktens teoretiska tidsrymd för återhämtning inte överensstämmer med verkligheten varpå sömn och kost prioriteras medan behovet av friskvård blir lidande. Personliga rutiner är avgörande men förutsättningarna för att skapa sunda rutiner för vila, kost och friskvård står i direkt relation till möjligheten att få sin frivakt ostörd från beordrade driftrelaterade arbetsmoment.
Persons that perform shift work are part of a risk group for health related stress as result of difficulties with developing personal routines for eating, sleeping and physical wellness. Sailors that work in ships where a two watch system with 6 hour watches is applied are therefore included in this risk group where work is generally concentrated over an extended period of time. This study presents an investigation on how people with experience in the two watch system with six hour watches, experience the conditions for creating healthy routines for sleep, diet and physical wellness. The result is a story about the perceived opportunities in which the following two interesting conclusions emerged: respondents feel that the off duty period's theoretical timeframe for regeneration doesn't correspond to reality in which the time does not suffice. Hence, sleep and nutrition is prioritized while the need for physical wellness suffers. Personal routines are essential, but prerequisites for developing healthy routines for sleep, diet and wellness are directly related to the possibility of having the off duty period undisturbed from ordered operational tasks.

Effects of a short 40-d dry period with only a close-up diet (SHORT) and a conventional 60-d dry period with a 39-d far-off and a 21-d close-up diet (CONV) on milk production, feed intake, blood and rumen parameters, liver gene expression and rumen microbiota profile were compared in 11 second-parity and 15 third and later parity cows. Milk production was recorded daily during the first 16 wks of lactation. Differential liver gene expression was assessed by affymetrix microarray analysis and DNA extracted from rumen samples was subjected to Illumina sequencing for exploring the microbiome profile. The SHORT treatment reduced milk yield and DMI after calving in third and later parity cows, but not in second-parity cows when compared to the CONV treatment. Cows on the SHORT treatment had higher concentrations of NEFA in blood plasma and tended to have higher liver TAG immediately after calving. These effects tended to be greater in third- and later parity cows compared to second-parity cows. Expression patterns of genes involved in β-oxidation at the first week of lactation compared to those at three weeks before calving showed lower hepatic β-oxidation capacity in cows on the SHORT treatment compared to those on the CONV treatment. During this period, the expression of DGAT, a key gene in the triglyceride synthesis, increased in SHORT-treatment cows while it remained unchanged in CONV-treatment cows. The expression patterns of genes involved in gluconeogenesis showed a higher capacity at first week after calving in cows on the SHORT compared to those on the CONV treatment. Our study also showed that the SHORT treatment increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes and reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes compared to the CONV treatment and reduced the shifting of rumen microbiota from before to after calving. Results also demonstrated that the rumen microbiota was more stable in the SHORT treatment during the transition period. Based on these results, a 40-d dry period management with only a close-up diet might be beneficial for second parity cows. However, this treatment may be detrimental for older cows as excessive energy intake and fat deposition during the dry period in these animals result in lower milk production and higher mobilization of NEFA and accumulation of fat in the liver.
February 2016

The aim of this Master thesis is the elaboration of a bussines project for a hotel construction and management that will offer to visitors a comfortable background with many quality servises including catering and multiple sports activities as a peaceful resort in one of the natural and turistic most atractive locations in our country.

Il sistema immunitario è costituito da una varietà di cellule, molecole e processi biologici che interagiscono per prevenire le invasioni microbiche, riconoscere le molecole estranee ed eliminare le fonti esistenti di lesioni cellulari, ripristinando le normali funzioni tissutali una volta risolto il problema. L'immunità innata è la prima linea di difesa contro le invasioni di agenti patogeni. Nelle vacche da latte, il suo funzionamento subisce gravi alterazioni durante il periodo di transizione (TP). In questa fase è stata segnalata una compromissione delle funzioni delle cellule polimorfonucleate (PMN) correlate alla produzione di metaboliti reattivi dell'ossigeno (ROM), all’attività della mieloperossidasi (MPO), alla chemiotassi e alla fagocitosi. I PMN bovini hanno un alterata espressione dei geni codificanti per tali funzioni tra -1 e 2 settimane dal parto, rispetto al livello rilevato 4 settimane dopo il parto per gli stessi geni. La causa esatta delle disfunzioni immunitarie che si verificano nel periparto non è mai stata chiaramente identificata. In esse possono contribuire diversi fattori, principalmente imputati alle alterazioni metaboliche tipiche del periparto (cambiamenti nell’assetto ormonale, limitazione della risposta immunitaria materna al fine di mantenere la gravidanza, alterazioni nel bilancio energetico e stato di stress ossidativo). Tuttavia, la durata e l’entità delle disfunzioni immunitarie può aumentare qualora subentri uno stato di squilibrio fisiologico (PI). In tali condizioni, le alterazioni metaboliche del periparto sfuggono al controllo dei meccanismi omeostatici e omeoretici, ed una infiammazione sistemica è la conseguenza frequente di questo squilibrio. Lo stato infiammatorio sistemico è scatenato da un aumento dei livelli di citochine proinfiammatorie (PIC), che è collegato ad un aumento della temperatura corporea al parto, e che tipicamente inficia le funzionalità epatiche, modificando le priorità anaboliche dell'organo in fase di inizio lattazione. A seguito di tale slittamento, il fegato produce più α-globuline, note come proteine positive di fase acuta (+APP), cioè aptoglobina, ceruloplasmina e siero amiloide alfa (SAA). Al contrario, riduce la sintesi di albumina, retinol binding protein (RBP), paraoxonasi (PON) e lipoproteine, note come proteine negative di fase acuta (-APP), e sequestra minerali, quali zinco e ferro, dal flusso ematico. L'infiammazione porta all'attivazione dei PMN, mentre la ridotta competenza immunitaria comunemente riportata in TP è stata associata ad un effetto opposto sui leucociti. Pertanto, questi dovrebbero essere considerati come due fenomeni distinti, ma lo stato di PI potrebbe essere considerato un denominatore comune, direttamente correlato al rischio di patologie in avvio di lattazione. Le strategie nutrizionali per ottimizzare l'immunità delle vacche da latte durante il TP dovrebbero quindi essere focalizzate sulla riduzione del grado di PI correlato al parto. Tra tali strategie nutrizionali, dovrebbe essere presa in considerazione la corretta gestione delle fonti energetiche per adattarle alle variazioni dei fabbisogni. Inoltre, il profilo degli acidi grassi delle fonti lipidiche può contribuire nel modificare le funzioni immunitarie. Infine, la somministrazione di prodotti supplementari con attività antiossidanti o antinfiammatorie, così come di specie donatrici di gruppi metilici, potrebbero essere strategie utili a favorire la funzionalità immunitaria delle bovine durante il TP. In una prospettiva più ampia, sebbene strategie nutrizionali e supplementi possano talora mitigare le alterazioni immunitarie, possiamo concludere che l'adozione di pratiche volte a minimizzare il PI durante il periodo di transizione sia la strategia più efficace per prevenire le disfunzioni. Al fine di chiarire il legame tra le alterazioni che si verificano nel periparto e le disfunzioni immunitarie delle bovine da latte sono stati condotti tre esperimenti. Bovine di razza frisona sono state alloggiate in poste individuali a stabulazione fissa e monitorate regolarmente per le condizioni corporee (BCS), il peso (BW), l'assunzione di alimenti (DMI), la produzione di latte (MY) e il tempo di ruminazione. Campioni di sangue sono stati raccolti regolarmente per valutare un ampio profilo ematochimico e per testare le funzioni dei globuli bianchi mediante stimolazioni ex-vivo. Inoltre, la diapedesi dei PMN è stata testata in vivo mediante test della carragenina e sono stati raccolti campioni di rumine a 30 giorni dal parto (DFC). Il primo esperimento era volto a chiarire le cause dei cambiamenti metabolici che si verificano al momento della messa in asciutta, ed il contributo del livello produttivo in tali alterazioni. Infatti, i profondi cambiamenti nell’alimentazione, gli adattamenti gastrointestinali, del metabolismo e dei parametri immunitari che si verificano nelle bovine alla messa in asciutta sono note scatenare il rilascio di cortisolo, indurre segnali di infiammazione sistemica ed alterare il bilancio redox. Produzioni di latte elevate al momento della messa in asciutta hanno un ruolo nell'aggravare tali condizioni. Nel nostro studio, un gruppo di 13 bovine è stato asciugato a 55 giorni dalla data prevista per il parto. Gli animali sono stati divisi in due gruppi in base alla produzione media dell'ultima settimana di lattazione, assumendo un cut-off di 15 kg * d-1: bassa (LM; 6 animali) e alta produzione (HM; 7 animali). I dati sono stati sottoposti ad ANOVA utilizzando un modello per misure ripetute, assumendo il livello produttivo al termine della lattazione, il tempo e la loro interazione come effetti fissi. L'aumento delle quantità di fibra nella razione di asciutta ha ridotto la DMI e aumentato il tempo di ruminazione. La migrazione dei leucociti nella ghiandola mammaria per contribuire alla fase di involuzione ha ridotto la loro abbondanza nel sangue e aumentato la loro attività. Tale attivazione dei leucociti nella mammella ha aumentato l'abbondanza di specie reattive dell’azoto nel plasma e innescato un'infiammazione sistemica in tutti gli animali (aumento delle +APP e riduzione delle -APP). Tale infiammazione ha compromesso le funzioni epatiche (aumento delle concentrazioni di gamma-glutamil transferasi -GGT- bilirubina e fosfatasi alcalina -ALP-). Sia la produzione di specie dell’azoto che lo stato infiammatorio sistemico hanno contribuito all'esaurimento degli antiossidanti circolanti (gruppi tiolici -SHp-, tocoferolo, β-carotene, potere antiossidante ferrico riducente -FRAP- e capacità antiossidante contro specie reattive dell'ossigeno -ORAC-). Gli animali con una produzione più elevata alla messa in asciutta hanno mostrato la peggiore condizione, probabilmente per i più profondi cambiamenti metabolici che hanno affrontato dopo l'interruzione delle mungiture, e per la fase involutiva verosimilmente più dispendiosa. Questo studio evidenzia la messa in asciutta come una fase critica per gestire la salute delle vacche da latte, e suggerisce un potenziale legame della messa in asciutta con le alterazioni delle funzioni immunitarie che si verificano nel periparto. Nel secondo esperimento si sono cercati di identificare i cambiamenti del sistema immunitario che precedono l'insorgenza della chetosi, al fine di chiarire il loro ruolo nella comparsa della malattia. Pertanto, 13 bovine sono state monitorate tra -48 e 35 DFC e suddivise in due gruppi sulla base dei loro livelli plasmatici di beta idrossibutirrato (BHB): inferiore (CTR, 7 animali) o superiore a 1,4 mMol / L (KET; 6 animali). I dati sono stati sottoposti ad ANOVA utilizzando un modello per misure ripetute, assumendo lo stato di salute, il tempo e la loro interazione come effetti fissi. Le vacche KET hanno avuto una maggiore attivazione del sistema immunitario prima del parto (maggiori concentrazioni plasmatiche di PIC, MPO e specie ossidanti e maggiori produzione di interferone gamma in risposta alla stimolazione con Mycobacterium avium) alterazioni della funzionalità epatica (più alta concentrazione sanguigna di GGT) e minori minerali plasmatici. Elevati livelli plasmatici di NEFA, BHB e glucosio nelle vacche KET suggeriscono uno stato di insulinoresistenza e una marcata mobilizzazione del grasso corporeo durante il periodo di asciutta. Tali andamenti dei parametri relativi al metabolismo energetico durante l’asciutta sono stati associati alla riduzione della DMI al momento del parto e al peggioramento del bilancio energetico negativo ad avvio lattazione. Ciò ha causato a sua volta una riduzione di MY e accresciuto ulteriormente la mobilizzazione dei grassi in avvio di lattazione. Compromissione della funzionalità epatica e attivazione dei leucociti durante il periodo di asciutta hanno determinato una marcata risposta infiammatoria di fase acuta nelle vacche KET dopo il parto (maggiori concentrazioni di +APP minori concentrazioni di RBP), ed ulteriormente compromesso la funzionalità epatica (maggiori concentrazioni di glutammato-ossalacetato transaminasi -AST-GOT- e bilirubina). I leucociti delle vacche KET hanno mostrato ridotte funzioni infiammatorie dopo stimolazione ex-vivo con lipopolisaccaridi batterici (minore produzione di PIC e maggiore produzione di lattato). Queste alterazioni potrebbero essere guidate dall'azione combinata dei metaboliti legati alla mobilizzazione dei lipidi e delle azioni antinfiammatorie volte a prevenire un'infiammazione eccessiva. Ciò suggerisce che le alterazioni dei parametri immunitari osservate prima del parto siano altamente correlate con la probabilità di sviluppare chetosi in avvio di lattazione. Nel terzo esperimento è stato somministrato un prodotto immunostimolante dalla comprovata efficacia nel migliorare le funzioni leucocitarie degli animali immunodepressi e nel ridurre l'incidenza delle malattie infettive delle bovine ad inizio lattazione. La sua modalità di azione non è mai stata chiarita, e un’indagine approfondita sul suo effetto metabolico potrebbe evidenziarne l’efficacia anche nei confronti dei disordini metabolici del periodo di transizione. Pertanto, un gruppo di10 bovine è stato monitorato da -62 a 42 DFC. Il gruppo trattato (TRT, 5 animali) ha ricevuto 32,5 g di Omnigen-AF® (Phibro Animal Health Corporation) due volte al giorno (65 g d-1), mentre il gruppo di controllo (CTR, 5 animali) non ha ricevuto alcun supplemento. I dati sono stati sottoposti ad ANOVA utilizzando un modello per misure ripetute, assumendo il trattamento, il tempo e la loro interazione come effetti fissi. La somministrazione dell’immunostimolante alla messa in asciutta non ha influenzato BW, BCS, MY, composizione del latte e del fluido ruminale e nemmeno modificato la concentrazione di neutrofili del sangue. Tuttavia, ha aumentato il tempo di ruminazione e migliorato il metabolismo energetico dopo il parto (concentrazioni di NEFA e BHB inferiori). Le bovine TRT avevano maggiori concentrazioni ematiche di linfociti e i loro leucociti avevano una maggiore efficienza nel rispondere alla stimolazione con lipopolisaccaridi batterici (produzione di lattato inferiore e minore consumo di glucosio). Nonostante questi effetti positivi sulle cellule immunitarie, l'immunostimolante non ha influenzato le concentrazioni di +APP dopo il parto. Inoltre, l’immunostimolante ha ridotto le concentrazioni di albumina, PON e antiossidanti dopo il parto, suggerendo la compromissione di alcune funzioni epatiche negli animali trattati. Tuttavia, la mancanza di qualsiasi effetto sui biomarcatori di funzionalità (bilirubina) e danno epatico (GGT, AST-GOT, ALP) smentisce una reale compromissione delle attività epatiche a seguito del trattamento. Gli effetti positivi nel favorire il recupero delle funzioni del rumine, riducendo la mobilizzazione dei grassi corporei dopo il parto, suggeriscono che l'immunostimolante sia una strategia efficace nella prevenzione dei disturbi metabolici del periodo di transizione.
Immune system is made of a variety of cells, molecules and biological processes that interacts to prevent microbial invasions, recognize foreign molecules and eliminate existing sources of cellular injuries to restore tissues to their normal functions once problem has been solved. Innate immunity is the primary defense line against pathogens invasions. Its functioning typically undergoes severe alterations during transition period (TP) of dairy cows. An impairment of polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) functions related to reactive oxygen metabolites (ROM) production, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, chemotaxis and phagocytosis has been reported in this phase. Bovine PMN have an altered abundance in mRNA transcripts encoding for such functions between -1 and 2 weeks from calving, in comparison to the level found at 4 weeks after calving for the same genes. The exact cause of immune dysfunctions occurring in peripartum has never been clearly identified. Reduced immune competence could arise from the interaction of different factors affected from the typical peripartum trends (i.e. changes in endocrine asset, limitations of maternal immune responses against the allogeneic conceptus, alterations in energy balance and oxidative stress status). Nevertheless, its duration could be modified when peripartal changes exceed the control of homeorhetic and homeostatic mechanisms, leading to the physiological imbalance (PI) condition. Such a condition could also trigger the inflammatory-like status. It consists in a prepartal raise of pro-inflammatory cytokines (PICs) levels, that is linked to a raise in body temperature at calving, and that typically affects liver metabolism, implying severe losses in hepatic functions and a shift of anabolic priority of the organ in early lactation. The liver produces more α-globulins, known as positive acute phase proteins (APP), i.e. haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin and serum amyloid alpha (SAA). Conversely, it reduces the synthesis of albumin, retinol binding protein, paraoxonase (PON) and lipoproteins, known as negative APP and sequesters minerals, as zinc and iron, from blood flow. Inflammation lead to the activation of PMN, while the reduced immune competence commonly reported in TP has been associated to an opposite effect on leukocytes. Thus, these should be considered as two distinct phenomena, but they could arise from a common cause with a different magnitude and duration. Nutritional strategies to optimize dairy cow’s immunity during TP should be focused on reducing the PI degree related to calving, as this condition could be referred as a common denominator between immune dysfunction and diseases causes. Among such nutritional strategies, the correct management of energy sources to fit with altered requirements should be considered. Furthermore, fatty acids profile of lipid sources administered could also modify immune functions. Finally, the administration of supplementary products exerting antioxidant or anti-inflammatory activities, as well as methyl donors species, could be beneficial for dairy cows immunity in TP. In a wider perspective, although feed additives and nutritional strategy could be effective in mitigate immune alterations, we can conclude that adoption of proper management practices aimed to avoid PI condition in peripartal period of dairy cows could be the most effective strategy to prevent dysfunctions. Three experiments have been designed to elucidate the linkage between sudden changes occurring in peripartum and immune alterations in dairy cows. Throughout such experiments Holstein dairy cows were housed in tied stalls and monitored regularly for body condition score (BCS), body weight (BW), dry matter intake (DMI), milk yield (MY) and rumination time. Blood samples were collected regularly to assess a wide hematochemical profile and to test white blood cell functions through ex-vivo challenges. Furthermore, PMN diapedesis has been tested in-vivo through a carrageenan-skin test and rumen samples were collected at 30 days from calving (DFC). The first experiment was aimed in investigate the main causes of metabolic changes occurring at dry-off and the contribution of MY in such alterations. In fact, dry-off is related to deep changes in feeding behavior, gastro intestinal adaptations, metabolism and immune parameters in high-yielding cow’s career. Indeed, the release of cortisol, signals of systemic inflammation and altered redox balance have been reported immediately after milking interruption, and high MY have a role in aggravating such conditions. In our study, a group of 13 Holstein dairy cows were dried off at 55 days from expected calving day, and regularly monitored from -7 to 34 days from dry-off (DFD). Animals were retrospectively divided in two groups according to their average MY in the last week of lactation, assuming a cut-off of 15 kg*d-1: low MY (6 cows) and high MY (7 cows). Data were submitted to ANOVA using a mixed model for repeated measures including MY at dry-off, time and their interaction as fixed effects. Increased fiber amounts of dry ration reduced DMI and increased rumination time. Leukocytes migration into mammary gland to contribute in the involution phase decreased their abundance in blood at dry-off, and their activity. Such activation of leukocytes at mammary site increased the abundance of nitrogen species in plasma and triggered a systemic inflammation in all the animals, as reflected from increased concentrations of positive and reduced concentrations of negative APPs. Such inflammation impaired liver functions, as suggested from the increased gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) concentrations. Both the production of nitrogen species and the systemic inflammatory status contributed in the depletion of antioxidant system in blood (thiol groups -SHp-, tocopherol, β-carotene, ferric reducing antioxidant power -FRAP- and oxygen reactive antioxidant capacity -ORAC-). Animals with higher MY at dry-off showed the worst condition, likely for the deeper metabolic changes they faced at milking interruption, and to the greater amount of mammary parenchyma to be reabsorbed. This study highlights the dry-off as a thorny point to manage dairy cows’ health and depose for a relationship between dry-off and immune alteration that typically occurs at calving. The second experiment was aimed in investigate changes occurring in the immune system prior to ketosis onset to elucidate their role in disease occurrence. Thus, a group of 13 Holstein dairy cows were monitored from -48 to 35 DFC and retrospectively divided into 2 groups basing on their plasma BHB levels: lower (CTR; 7 cows) or higher than 1.4 mMol/L (KET; 6 cows). Data were submitted to ANOVA using a mixed model for repeated measures including health status, time and their interaction as fixed effects. KET cows had a greater activation of the immune system prior to calving (higher plasma concentrations of PICs, myeloperoxidase and oxidant species, and greater interferon gamma responses to Mycobacterium avium) impaired liver functions (higher blood concentration of GGT) and lower plasma minerals. High plasma NEFA, BHB and glucose levels in KET cows suggest an insulin resistance status and a marked mobilization of body fat occurring during dry period. They were also associated to reduced DMI around calving and worse negative energy balance in early lactation. This caused in turn reduced MY and increased fat mobilization in early lactation. Impairment of liver function and activation of leukocytes during the dry period accentuated the acute phase response in KET cows after calving (greater concentrations of positive APPs and lower concentration of retinol binding protein), further impairing liver function (higher blood concentrations of glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase -AST-GOT- and bilirubin). Leukocytes of KET cows had reduced inflammatory functions after an ex vivo stimulation assay (lower production of PICs and greater production of lactate). These alterations on WBC could be driven by the combined action of metabolites related to the mobilization of lipids and of anti-inflammatory actions aimed to prevent over exuberant inflammation. This suggests that prepartal trends of immune parameters be highly related with the likelihood of developing diseases in early lactation. The third experiment consisted in the administration of Omnigen-AF (OAF), an immune stimulant that is effective in increasing leukocytes functions in immunosuppressed animals and in reducing incidence of infectious diseases in early lactating dairy cows. Its mode of action has never been elucidated, and a wider perspective of its metabolic effect could highlight its effectiveness in facing metabolic disorders of transition period also. Thus, a group of 10 Holstein dairy cows were divided into 2 groups: treated group (TRT; 5 cows) received 32.5 g of Omnigen-AF® (Phibro Animal Health Corporation) twice a day (65 g d-1) as top-dress on the morning and afternoon feeds, while control group (CTR; 5 cows) did not receive any supplementation. From -62 to 42 DFC animals were monitored regularly. Data were submitted to ANOVA using a mixed model for repeated measures including treatment, time and their interaction as fixed effects. Administration of OAF at dry-off did not affect BW, BCS, milk yield, milk and rumen fluid composition, and neither affected blood neutrophils concentrations. Nevertheless, it increased rumination time and improved the energy metabolism after calving (lower NEFA and BHB concentrations). TRT cows had an increased lymphocytes abundance at blood level, and their leukocytes had greater efficiency in facing biological stressors during the peripartum (lower lactate production and lower glucose consumption after a challenge with bacterial lipopolysaccharides). Despite these positive effects on immune cells, OAF did not affect the positive APPs concentrations after calving. A reduced abundance of albumin, PON and antioxidants also occurred with OAF after calving, suggesting some impairment of hepatic functions to occur. Nevertheless, the lack of any effect on main biomarkers related to liver function (bilirubin) and liver damage (GGT, AST-GOT, ALP) dismisses a real impairment of liver activities to occur with OAF. Positive effects in favoring the recovery of rumen functions, reducing mobilization of body fats after calving suggest OAF to be an effective strategy in preventing metabolic disorders of transition period.

This master’s thesis deals with processing business project building boarding-house in Tisnov area. Theoretical part includes investment decision, business project, methods of economic evaluation investment and defines tourist trade. Practical part analyses present situation, description of boarding-house and environment, influence the crisis on accommodation. Design part costs accounting project, predicting incomes, net use of beds and average price in accommodation. Master’s thesis also rates investment efficiency by means of net present value and pay-off period.

Chapter 8 of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) deals with set-off. Set-off, also known as compensation, is generally defined as a mechanism by which two (or more) reciprocal obligations of an obligor (debtor) and an obligee (creditor) can be extinguished up to the level of the smaller amount if the requirements fixed by the applicable law are met. It is therefore an effective and simplified way of discharging a party's obligation, avoiding overlapping payments (‘circuity of payment’) or performances. Chapter 8 addresses the issue of set-off in five provisions: conditions of set-off, foreign currency set-off, set-off by notice, content of notice, and effect of set-off. It considers set-off in the case of assignment of rights, transfer of obligations, assignment of a contract, and when the obligation is affected by the limitation period.

As a student, Walt Whitman Rostow resolved to write a riposte to Marxism. After studying British economic history, he identified a period of thirty years of rapid development as the core of an industrial revolution, which he thought was characteristic of all subsequent industrial revolutions. He used this idea of a take-off period to forecast future revolutions in developing countries that would lead to an American-style consumerist society. After advising President Johnson on a strategy for the failed Vietnam war, he resumed his academic career in the face of much criticism of his theory. Alternative interpretations of the British experience was offered by Simon Kuznets, and of the Continental experience by Alexander Gerschenkron, while Raul Prebisch and Latin American colleagues produced the radically different dependency approach to explain the underdevelopment of that region.

This chapter discusses the law of set-off in Argentina by focusing on the relevant provisions of the Argentine Civil and Commercial Code (CC Code). Under the CC Code, set-off provides a means of cancelling or extinguishing an obligation. According to the Code, a set-off arises when two parties reach a mutual agreement to be creditor and debtor. The chapter first provides an overview of the main elements of set-off as stipulated in the CC Code before explaining the specific set-off provisions that are applicable in an insolvency case. In particular, it examines statutory set-off and contractual set-off, set-off against insolvent parties, set-off provisions for the case of reorganization and bankruptcy under the Argentine Bankruptcy Law, and set-off during the ‘suspect’ or ‘look-back’ period. Finally, it analyses set-off provisions governing cross-border transactions.

AbstractThe banking supervision in Sweden was formalized incrementally over the last half of the nineteenth century when the banking sector grew and modernized. Swedish banking regulation developed out of the charter requirement, and the supervision out of the administration of the growing number of charter applications. With the creation of the Bank Bureau within the Ministry of Finance and the development of the Bank Inspector profession in the 1860s and 1870s, banking supervisory activities such as on- and off-site examinations became more frequent and standardized. The creation of the independent agency, the Bank Inspection Board, in 1906, and the transfer of supervisory executive powers from the Ministry of Finance to the new supervisory agency, were the final step of the formalization process. During the same period, banking regulation was harmonized and furthered a process of centralizations to the authorities in Stockholm.

The book opens its investigation of the category of the “off” by examining a paradigmatic painting of the early modern period, Rembrandt’s The Sacrifice of Isaac. The painting is shown to involve a reflection on the historical significance of the modern category of the “off”. The key element is the painting’s attempt to differentiate the dimension of the outside the frame (the “off”) of a modern painting from the outside the frame in a sacred image. While in the sacred image the outside is conceived as the divine, in the modern painting the outside marks the disappearance of the divine. This new dimension of the “off” is also conceived, due to its critique of the logic of the divine, as what allows for a liberation from the logic of sacrifice that guided the monotheistic religions.

This chapter outlines the growth of credit programs from the Second World War through the postwar era. This period saw a surge in wartime credit, the end of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), and the emergence of government support for venture capital and school loans. As postwar credit programs moved capital and pioneered new ways of lending, they shaped how and where U.S. companies lent money. They also helped lift a generation of white families and systematically exclude African Americans. Discriminatory and decentralized, off-budget and complex, the credit programs were a key component of America's peculiar developmental state. Indeed, credit programs are not aberrations in the system. They are a core aspect of how the system works.

Almost a year before the period of her misfortunes the Duchess had had a strange encounter: one evening when she was suffering from la luna, as the locals put it, she had set off on the spur of the moment for her villa...

The paper proposes the directional analysis of the severest storms recorded by the Italian Wave Measurement Network (RON). For this purpose the buoy data have been processed and all the storms have been selected; for the strongest storms, the direction of the sea states, which form them, has been analyzed. The directional return period of sea storms in which the maximum significant wave height exceeds a threshold is then obtained, by applying the ETS model. It is found that, for the prediction of extreme storms off Italy, it is possible to assume the duration of storms constant, with an error smaller than 4%.

We examine real and financial spillovers to safe haven financial flow destinations due to risk-off shocks in global financial markets. Using country-specific structural vector autoregression models over the period 1990 to 2021, we show that dynamics for Japan appear to be different to those of Switzerland and the United States in four main ways. First, in response to risk-off episodes over the estimation period, the yen real effective exchange rate appreciates sharply and significantly, with the effect persisting over time. Second, no significant effects on portfolio flows to Japan are found, in spite of the exchange rate effects, suggesting a rapid adjustment of financial markets to shifts in equilibrium exchange rates. Third, negative real spillovers from risk-off shocks appear to only apply to Japan with exchange rate appreciation exacerbating declines in GDP growth. Fourth, risk-off shocks do not have a statistically significant effect on domestic economic policy uncertainty in Japan, which may be related to the strong expectations priced in of overseas portfolio holdings repatriated back to Japan. Our findings have important implications for policy makers in safe haven destinations in managing domestic financial vulnerabilities associated with risk-off episodes.

The first phase of the study was designed to determine the adsorption rate of viruses and microspheres to sandy and loamy soils and determine the adsorption efficiency of various viruses to soil. The adsorption of viruses to sandy and loamy soils has been found virus type dependent. The poorest adsorption was observed for MS2 bacteriophage while the greatest adsorption was observed for PRD-1. Adsorption sites on the soil material were not found as limiting factors for adsorption of viruses on soil material. The effect of water quality on adsorption has been found as virus type dependent. The adsorption process of microspheres to soil material has been found to be similar to that of viruses and occurs within a very short period of time. Carboxylated (negatively charged) microspheres seems to adsorb more efficiently than plain microspheres to soil material. At low temperatures (10oC), and under saturated conditions no virus die-off was observed, therefore under these conditions virus can survive for long period of time. At 23oC, and saturated conditions, the greatest die-off was observed for MS2 bacteriophage, whereas, negligible die-off was for PRD-1 bacteriophage and hepatitis A virus. Considering the survival results MS2 bacteriophages is not suitable as indicator for pathogenic viruses persistence in soil material. Furthermore, temperature, is more important than any other factor for the inactivation of viruses.

This paper employs a simple methodology to estimate the potential economic damages of the 2021 earthquake in Haiti. The country registered a magnitude 7.2 earthquake off the South Coast on August 14, 2021, that resulted in 2,248 deaths, 12,763 injured and substantial damages to houses and other infrastructure. An additional 329 persons remain missing. We estimate economic damages using econometric techniques and a dataset on natural disasters across a wide range of countries and over an extended time period. Based on this analysis, damages for the 2021 earthquake in Haiti are estimated to reach US$1.6 billion (9.6 percent of GDP) for a scenario with an impact of 2,500 dead or missing. We also generate confidence intervals on these results. We hope these early estimates will provide a useful input to the ongoing Post-Disaster Risk Assessment (PDNA) and will assist the government and its international partners plan efforts to assist the country in terms of relief and reconstruction.

Canonical human capital theories posit that education, by enhancing worker skills, reduces the likelihood that a worker will be laid off during times of economic change. Yet, this has not been demonstrated causally. We link administrative education records from 1987 through 2002 to nationally representative surveys conducted before and after the onset of COVID-19 in Barbados to explore the causal impact of improved education on job loss during this period. Using a regression discontinuity (RD) design, Beuermann and Jackson (2020) show that females (but not males) who score just above the admission threshold for more selective schools in Barbados attain more years of education than those that scored just below (essentially holding initial ability fixed). Here, in follow-up data, we show that these same females (but not males) are much less likely to have lost a job after the onset of COVID-19. We show that these effects are not driven by sectoral changes, or changes in labor supply. Because employers observe incumbent worker productivity, these patterns are inconsistent with pure education signaling, and they suggest that education enhances worker skill.

This article has three goals. First, it describes the genesis of fiscal rules in Peru and its degree of compliance. Second, it estimates the effect of fiscal rules adoption on public investment. Last, it analyzes the impact of alternative fiscal rules on public investment and public debt sustainability. Our main results are as follows. First, the implementation of fiscal rules in the year 2000 caused a 60 to 80 percent fall in public investment relative to several counterfactuals. Second, our DSGE model suggests a Structural Fiscal Rule would have increased the consumers welfare in the period 2000-2019 more than other fiscal designs. This rule reduces the procyclicality of public investment under commodity price shocks and macroeconomic volatility under world interest rate shocks. Third, a Structural Fiscal Rule has the lowest probability of exceeding the current public debt limit (30 percent of GDP), although there is a trade-off between investment-friendly rules and fiscal sustainability issues. Nevertheless, our quantitative results are limited to short spans of analysis. With a long-run perspective, we may say that fiscal rulesdespite constant modifications and recurring non-compliancehave fulfilled their original and most important goal of achieving the consolidation of public finances.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), during 2016 there were 7,277,000 vehicle crashes nationally. Among them, approximately 70% happened during the daytime and around 30% of crashes occurred during the nighttime. There were 11,375 nighttime fatal crashes that account for about 48% of total fatal crashes (23,714). Given the fact that only 25%–33% of the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) occur at night, the above statistics indicate that the nighttime crash fatality rate is much higher and nighttime crashes are usually more severe compared to daytime crashes. Providing lighting on roadways is one of the proven safety countermeasures for preventing crashes and reducing fatalities. In particular, lighting at roadway intersections can reduce vehicle crashes by 10% to 26%. Currently, to conduct lighting field testing, INDOT is using several in-service highways, intersections, interchanges, and rest areas. These locations require traffic control and lane closures, which raises safety concerns and causing inconvenience to the public. In addition to the cost and safety concerns, during the evaluation period the new luminaires being tested actually functioned as lighting sources in place of the existing luminaires that were removed in order to install the new luminaires. This means that the new luminaries were used for roadway lighting at the test sites even before they were proven to meet the roadway lighting requirements. To eliminate traffic control and potential safety concerns, it was proposed to create test beds for field evaluating and to verify the performance of new lighting technologies and luminaires in a controlled, standard setting. Through this study, two lighting test bed facilities were designed and constructed. Illuminance values of installed luminaires were manually measured by a remotely controlled electric cart and drone. The measured illuminance values were analyzed and the analysis indicated that the efficiency of illuminance measurement can be significantly improved by automated methods. An illuminance data repository model was developed to be an effective tool that can greatly facilitate data input and storage process. The use of this model will further increase the productivity of illuminance measurement at the lighting test beds.

The Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network has monitored white-tailed deer over an 18-year period (2005–2022) within a defined survey area of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, documenting both a rapid decline and recovery in the population. The rapid die-off was the result of a region-wide hemorrhagic disease outbreak reported by the Missouri Department of Conservation that started in the fall of 2005, six months after we initiated deer monitoring. Although declines occurred 2005 to 2007, 2016 to 2017, and 2019 to 2022, the deer population still increased on average by 7.2% annually. The number of deer in the survey area ranged from a low of 14.9 ± 10.1 (mean ± 95% CI) individuals/km2 in 2007 to a high of 167.2 ± 57.4 individuals/km2 in 2016. The visible area surveyed each year varied between 0.7 and 1.1 km2 (coefficient of variation = 14.1%). Annual deer harvest data in the area nearby Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield exhibit similar trends to our annual adjusted counts suggesting that factors other than hunting maybe driving annual changes in deer population size in most years. However, these trends were not significantly correlated (r = 0.34, p = 0.33), so this relationship is only speculative. Overall, the increasing number of deer pose several problems for Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield. First, increasing deer populations add a level of complexity to implementing Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Cultural Landscape Report recommendations. Deer preferentially browse native vegetation over exotic vegetation, promoting the spread of exotic species, and the success of tree plantings can be curtailed by heavy deer browsing. Second, controlling deer-related disease, some of which can affect domestic livestock and human health in and around the park, becomes increasingly harder as the deer population increases. Third, as additional ancillary data suggests, the largely unreported and costly deer-vehicle collisions in and around Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield have the potential to increase when there are more deer.

Channel Island National Park (CHIS), incorporating five islands off the coast of southern California (Anacapa Island, San Miguel Island, Santa Barbara Island, Santa Cruz Island, and Santa Rosa Island), has an outstanding paleontological record. The park has significant fossils dating from the Late Cretaceous to the Holocene, representing organisms of the sea, the land, and the air. Highlights include: the famous pygmy mammoths that inhabited the conjoined northern islands during the late Pleistocene; the best fossil avifauna of any National Park Service (NPS) unit; intertwined paleontological and cultural records extending into the latest Pleistocene, including Arlington Man, the oldest well-dated human known from North America; calichified “fossil forests”; records of Miocene desmostylians and sirenians, unusual sea mammals; abundant Pleistocene mollusks illustrating changes in sea level and ocean temperature; one of the most thoroughly studied records of microfossils in the NPS; and type specimens for 23 fossil taxa. Paleontological research on the islands of CHIS began in the second half of the 19th century. The first discovery of a mammoth specimen was reported in 1873. Research can be divided into four periods: 1) the few early reports from the 19th century; 2) a sustained burst of activity in the 1920s and 1930s; 3) a second burst from the 1950s into the 1970s; and 4) the modern period of activity, symbolically opened with the 1994 discovery of a nearly complete pygmy mammoth skeleton on Santa Rosa Island. The work associated with this paleontological resource inventory may be considered the beginning of a fifth period. Fossils were specifically mentioned in the 1938 proclamation establishing what was then Channel Islands National Monument, making CHIS one of 18 NPS areas for which paleontological resources are referenced in the enabling legislation. Each of the five islands of CHIS has distinct paleontological and geological records, each has some kind of fossil resources, and almost all of the sedimentary formations on the islands are fossiliferous within CHIS. Anacapa Island and Santa Barbara Island, the two smallest islands, are primarily composed of Miocene volcanic rocks interfingered with small quantities of sedimentary rock and covered with a veneer of Quaternary sediments. Santa Barbara stands apart from Anacapa because it was never part of Santarosae, the landmass that existed at times in the Pleistocene when sea level was low enough that the four northern islands were connected. San Miguel Island, Santa Cruz Island, and Santa Rosa Island have more complex geologic histories. Of these three islands, San Miguel Island has relatively simple geologic structure and few formations. Santa Cruz Island has the most varied geology of the islands, as well as the longest rock record exposed at the surface, beginning with Jurassic metamorphic and intrusive igneous rocks. The Channel Islands have been uplifted and faulted in a complex 20-million-year-long geologic episode tied to the collision of the North American and Pacific Places, the initiation of the San Andreas fault system, and the 90° clockwise rotation of the Transverse Ranges, of which the northern Channel Islands are the westernmost part. Widespread volcanic activity from about 19 to 14 million years ago is evidenced by the igneous rocks found on each island.