Rs

Classes in which animals are harmed are controversial within veterinary and other life and health sciences courses. Increasingly, students object to the harmful use of animals, and request humane teaching alternatives. Such cases can raise important animal welfare, legal and administrative concerns for universities. Several have implemented formal policies to guide their responses, maximising the likelihood of optimal and consistent outcomes. This paper reviews the development of these conscientious objection policies within Australian veterinary schools, and examines their underlying legal foundations. It concludes with recommendations for other universities considering how to respond to such cases.

Communication interface of data acquisition based on AT90CAN128 was designed. Given the system hardware frame diagram and program flow charts. 8-channel analog acquisition and 8-channel digital reading were implemented in the system. It succeeded in communicating with the other modules by RS232 and CAN bus. In addition, it monitored the data of communication and fault information online and real time. It was used successfully in the 4×4 off-road vehicle of electric transmission. The experiment verified the availability of the formula of data acquisition system.

It is evident that Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) plays a vital role in achieving sustainable planning and development. In this paper, the land use and land cover analysis of Dindigul block of Tamil Nadu for the period 1998 -2003 was analysed using Remote Sensing which supports the detection of the land use change of Dindigul block during this period. The detailed analysis has revealed that the buildup land occupied area which was 5.16% in 1998 was increased to 6.02% in 2003, and the loss of crop land was reduced by 31.36%.

Geographical information system (GIS) has emerged as an efficient tool in delineation of drainage pattern and ground water potential and its planning. GIS and image processing techniques can be employed for the identification of morphological features and analyzing properties of basin. The morphometric parameters of basin can address linear, areal and relief aspects. The review related to 'Morphometric analysis of drainage basin using remote sensing and GIS techniques' is discussed in the present paper.

This investigation is intended to estimate the annual soil loss in Wadi Bin Hammad watershed, and to examine the spatial patterns of soil loss and intensity, as an essential procedure for proper planning of conservation measures. To achieve these objectives, the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model has been applied in a geographical information system framework. After computing the RUSLE parameters (R, K, LS, C and P) soil erosion risk and intensity maps were generated, then integrated with physical factors (terrain units, elevation, slope, and land uses/cover) to explore the influence of these factors on the spatial patterns of soil erosion loss. The estimated potential annual average soil loss is 40.4 ton ha-1year-1, and the potential erosion rates from calculated class ranges from 0.0 to 100 ton ha-1year-1. Soil erosion risk assessment indicates that 14.63 % of the catchment is prone to high to extreme soil losses higher than 75 ton ha-1year-1. The lower and middle parts of the catchment suffer from high, severe, to extreme soil erosion. While 57.83 % of the basin still undergoes very low , low and moderate levels of soil loss of less than 75 ton ha-1year-1. The present results provide a vital database necessary to control soil erosion in order to ensure sustainable agriculture in the southern highlands region of Jordan.

Soil erosion is the major threat, among others, to the conservation of the soil and water resources. Even though soil erosion can be caused by geomorphological processes, anthropological or accelerated erosion, which is mainly favoured by human activities, is the major trigger factor for the loss of soil and water resources. Soil erosion has accelerated on most of the world, especially in developing countries, due to different socio-economic, demographic factors and limited resources (Ni and Li, 2003). There are various factors which play important role for the erosion of soil and important among them are vegetation cover, topography, soil and climate. Therefore, there is a need to accurately assess soil erosion and thereby determine the specific control measures adaptable to these conditions and Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based soil erosion risk assessment models continue to play an important role for soil conservation planning. There are various models and processes involved in GIS for soil erosion and coordination of information on the environment (CORINE) is one useful model among them and has great potential for producing accurate erosion risk maps. In the present study soil erosion risk of Ramgad watershed, Nainital was evaluated based on topographic, land use, climatic parameters and vegetation characteristics with regard to general erosion risk in the watershed area which basically includes the simulating erosion potential in the watershed area and CORINE methodology was used here in integration with GIS. The results of study indicate that in Ramgad Watershed 24.9%, 52.2% and 22.76% of area are under low, moderate and high actual erosion risk respectively.

A Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) based study has been carried out in part of upper Assam valley, NE India to delineate two important fluviomorphological changes that took placed in the confluences of Dihang, Dibang and Lohit rivers; and in increasing valley width of the River Brahmaputra. The study is conducted with TM+ and MSS 25 years time gapped satellite imageries of year 1986 and 2011. This study reveals that within this period by the phenomena of river capturing the main stream of Lohit river is diverted along Dangori river and presently flows along the south of Dibrusaikhowa. As a consequence of this divergence, the confluence point of Dibang and Lohit rivers which was formerly located at Saikhowaghat, near Sadiya at northeast of Dibrusaikhowa, is shifted towards southwestern side of Dibrusaikhowa by about 59.76 km in valley length (areal about 54 km). However, the confluence between Dibang and Dihang rivers shifted westward about 3.34 km from the Kobo Chapori. The changes were also attributed by broadening of the valley width of the rivers. There is a total loss of 846 km 2 area due to migration of river bank lines or river enlargement up to 86% of the original size measured in 1986. The average rate of bank line migration is about 115m per year in some sections.

Digital Cadastral Surveying is the need of present and future generations. The invention of Computer has revamped the face of the world dynamically. Every day in our life is digitalised and with out computers the world could not perform efficiently. The Computers, Satellite images, Aerial digital images could be effi-caciously used in the creation of new experimental methodologies for Cadastral Surveying. Land records are obtained by Cadastral Surveying, which in turn provides the cornerstone for Land Use Planning. Land Use planning is influenced by many factors directly and indirectly. Land encroachment is found to be one of the direct factors affecting Land Use Planning. The Land Encroachments are identified by di-gitisation and overlaying analysis using standard GIS software, GPS Equipments for obtaining Ground Control Points, with Satellite images and Aerial images combined with conventional land records available with the Government Authority. Di-squisition of Land encroachment is undertaken in this paper, to find the encroachment and its types. The problems involved in the encroachments, their detrimental effects on country's growth are considered while formation of methodology to the serve the purpose of its creation. Pros and Cons of the technology is known from the work and explained. This is a Research application requiring hybridization of technologies to obtain high quality spatial surveying products.

1 Model 1. Description of the Brief Conceptual Model of the Database Preparation 1.1 Description of the Source Data Used For the Victoria Lake region GIS Project we have following available thematic data: → Shape files of administrative boundaries (ArcGIS compatible format .shp), separately for Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Each .shp file has also additional supporting files like as .shx and .prj, which show additional information about projection, metadata etc. Also available UNEP grids for the same territories → Precipitation climatic data in .txt format, containing meteorological data in digital format: precipitation values in different months and years. → Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) showing relief characteristics and elevation of the research area. Data are taken from USGS website. There are two available data of GTopo30-E020N40.DEM covering territory of Kenya and Uganda, and E020S10.DEM showing southeastern part of Tanzania. DEM files contain horizontal grid spacing of 30 arc seconds (approximately 1 km). → Land Cover data in raster format which is stored in .bsq format: IGBP.bsq. This file is a part of the global land cover characteristics database. The pixel values correspond to class numbers defined in the appropriate land cover classification scheme legend. The data projected in the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection for the Africa land cover characteristics. → Population data were downloaded from the UNEP website. They contain raster data for the whole Africa continent. We have chosen two years for our research-data for 1990 and 2000 years. Each dataset had two different files-population density (popd00 and popd90 respectively) and population total. → As an additional data set we need miscellaneous data containing Landsat ETM+ images in MrSid formatS -36-00_2000.sid. i

Chilli is one of the most promising vegetable crops for Bastar Agro Climatic Zone (ACZ) of Chhattisgarh State (India). Even though the region receives an average annual rainfall of 1200 to 1400 mm, it still lags double cropping system due to mismanagement of harvested and conserved rainfall. A field experiment was conducted on chilli crop (variety -NS 1701) to study the irrigation scheduling and effect of different soil moisture regime over the yield and growth parameters of rabi chilli crop. The study was also undertaken to determine the minimum irrigation to be given or supplied in order to achieve significant returns from the crop along with identification of simple guideline for determination of soil moisture status. Eight treatments of irrigation (T 1 to T 8 ) including that of seven different available soil moisture (ASM) levels at 70% (T 1 ), 60% (T 2 ), 50% (T 3 ), 40% (T 4 ), 30% (T 5 ), 20% (T 6 ) and 10% (T 7 ) along with one treatment of furrow irrigation at different vegetative stages (T 8 ) of chilli crop was tested during rabi season. The results of this study showed that the irrigation at 60% ASM level gave the highest yield with 9.145 T ha -1 whereas the highest water use efficiency (WUE) was shown by both the treatments T 1 and T 2 with 0.37 T ha-cm -1 . Results also show that there is a significant reduction in the yield of chilli in treatment T 6 of irrigation at 20% ASM (7.015 T ha -1 ). The results also showed that chilli crop survives the moisture deficiency of 80% with substantial returns.

A new compression test unit was developed for the assessment of the surface properties of fibers. In order to measure the variation in the compression force during a test, a full bridge load cell was developed. It was seen that the signal coming from the strain gages was superimposed with noise. It was also found that the noise was from both electrical and mechanical sources. An extensive mathematical analysis of mechanical noise and the application of a mechanical noise reduction technique minimized the mechanical noise component. Analysis of electrical noise showed that the motion control card was interfacing with the Data Acquisition (DAQ) card via both the RS232 and the AC power line. It was necessary to separate the motion control unit and the DAQ unit in order to eliminate the electrical noise problem present in the system. After eliminating the noise from the unit, the calibration of the strain gages has been performed. The coefficient of correlation was found 1.00 with a cubic model.

Medical assistance undertakings have a long history of engendering positive international relations and fostering domestic stability. Interactions ranging from military medical civic action program (MEDCAP) missions to nongovernmental organization (NGO) efforts have demonstrated effectiveness, yet this capability is not routinely available in a meaningful way to the Secretary of State or the extended diplomatic community. MEDCAP and other global military presences can generate positive reactions, but can also be tainted by host nation suspicions of ulterior motives. In this paper, the authors posit that an organized, global public health presence would support international diplomacy while also establishing a worldwide surveillance capability for emerging communicable diseases.

The south west coastal zone of Bangladesh has been affected by rampant water logging due to vulnerable climate, silted rivers and stumpy terrain; and introduction of IWRM and TRM at some places of the zone has substantially safeguarded the circumstance. This study aims to assess the benefits achieved due to implementation of IWRM in parts of Khulna and Jessore districts, and investigate some technical aspects evolving TRM. Analyses have been carried out using satellite images, RS and GIS technology, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and field investigations. A mathematical formulation has been made to assess rate of tidal sedimentation due to TRM and selection strategies of tidal basins. The study comes up with evidences of considerable advancements in regional livelihood i.e. flood resistance, cultivated lands, cultivable area, cropping intensities and food security due to IWRM. Moreover, the technical facts established on TRM would help planners to have vivid perception regarding the process.

Animal welfare is a key issue for industries that use or impact upon animals. The accurate identification of welfare states is particularly relevant to the field of bioscience, where the 3Rs framework encourages refinement of experimental procedures involving animal models. The assessment and improvement of welfare states in animals is reliant on reliable and valid measurement tools. Behavioural measures (activity, attention, posture and vocalisation) are frequently used because they are immediate and non-invasive, however no single indicator can yield a complete picture of the internal state of an animal. Facial expressions are extensively studied in humans as a measure of psychological and emotional experiences but are infrequently used in animal studies, with the exception of emerging research on pain behaviour. In this review, we discuss current evidence for facial representations of underlying affective states, and how communicative or functional expressions can be useful withi...

The Sy 2 galaxy NGC 1241 presents a 1.5 kpc large circumnuclear ring of star formation (CNR) embracing a small bar plus leading arms. Those structures are P alpha emitters, but barely seen in H alpha. It presents also stellar trailing arms inside the CNR. GEMINI and HST imagery allow the construction of high resolution (V-H) and (J-K_s) color maps as well as a (J-K_s) vs. K color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of this complex region. The CNR is heavily obscured in V, but a fairly transparent window appears in the direction of the nucleus. Nonetheless, the nucleus presents a (J-K_s) color that is redder than the CNR. The CNR is composed of extremely young HII regions still enshrouded in their dust cocoons. However, the nuclear (J-K_s) color can not be explained in this manner. Therefore, we propose the contribution of C-Stars as the most feasible mechanism for explaining the colors. If the nuclear stellar population is comparable to that of the LMC bar, 500 C-stars and 25000 AGB O-rich star...

Identification of individual risk factors for motor complications in Parkinson’s disease (PD) can help to guide personalised medical treatment, particularly since treatment options are still limited. To determine whether common functional gene polymorphisms in the dopamine metabolism predict the onset of motor complications in PD, we performed a retrospective, observer-blinded follow-up study of 30 PD patients who underwent genotyping of dopa-decarboxylase (DDC; rs921451), monoamine oxidase B (MAOB; rs1799836), catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT; rs4680), and dopamine transporter (DAT; variable number tandem repeat) polymorphisms. Onset of wearing-off and dyskinesias was determined by blinded clinical assessments. Predictive values of genotypes for motor complications were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard models. During a median follow-up time of 11.6 years, 23 (77%) of 30 PD patients developed wearing-off, 16 (53%) dyskinesias, and 23 (77%) any motor complication. The MAOB (...

The shikimate pathway is essential for production of a plethora of aromatic compounds in plants, bacteria, and fungi. Seven enzymes of the shikimate pathway catalyze sequential conversion of erythrose 4-phosphate and phosphoenol pyruvate to chorismate. Chorismate is then used as a substrate for other pathways that culminate in production of folates, ubiquinone, napthoquinones, and the aromatic amino acids tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. The shikimate pathway is absent from animals and present in the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii, Plasmodium falciparum, and Cryptosporidium parvum. Inhibition of the pathway by glyphosate is effective in controlling growth of these parasites. These findings emphasize the potential benefits of developing additional effective inhibitors of the shikimate pathway. Such inhibitors may function as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents that are effective against bacterial and fungal pathogens and apicomplexan parasites. Overview of the Shikimate Pathway and Its Branches, Derivatives, and Organization Characterization of the shikimate pathway of apicomplexan parasites is of special interest because the pathway is absent from animals but apparently essential for survival of the parasites [1, 2]. Thus, understanding the shikimate pathway in these organisms may assist in the development of new antiparasitic agents. The plethora of information available on the shikimate pathway of other organisms (bacteria, fungi, and plants) provides a starting point for these studies. However, existing data reveal differences in shikimate pathways of bacteria, fungi, and plants and suggest many possible modes of regulation and inhibition of the pathway. It remains to be seen whether the pathway in apicomplexan parasites provides yet more diversity. The shikimate pathway operates in the cytosol of bacteria and fungi, but in plants it is also known to operate in plastid organelles. The pathway utilizes phosphoenol pyruvate and erythrose 4-phosphate to produce chorismate through seven catalytic steps [3, 4] (figure 1). It is a pathway with multiple branches. While branches exist from various intermediate products of the pathway, chorismate represents the major branch point, and various branches give rise to many end products. Derivatives of chorismate include tryptophan via an anthranilate intermediate [3, 4], phenylalanine and tyrosine via prephenate or arogenate [3-5], and vitamin K and metal chelators containing dihydroxybenzoic acid, such as enterochelin, via isochorismate [3, 4]. Chorismate also is used for production of ubiquinone and p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), which is converted into folates. The shikimate pathway also gives rise to many secondary metabo

This paper addresses a major problem in international solid waste management, which is twofold: a lack of data, and a lack of consistent data to allow comparison between cities. The paper presents an indicator set for integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM) in cities both North and South, to allow benchmarking of a city's performance, comparing cities and monitoring developments over time. It builds on pioneering work for…

Evaluation of the safety of new chemicals and pharmaceuticals requires the combination of information from various sources (e.g. in vitro, in silico and in vivo) to provide an assessment of risk to human health and the environment. The authors have identified opportunities to maximize the predictivity of this information to humans while reducing animal use in four key areas; (i) accelerating the uptake of in vitro methods; (ii) incorporating the latest science into safety pharmacology assessments; (iii) optimizing rodent study design in biological development and (iv) consolidating approaches in developmental and reproductive toxicology. Through providing a forum for open discussion of novel proposals, reviewing current research and obtaining expert opinion in each of the four areas, the authors have developed recommendations on good practice and future strategy.

In this work, we investigate the some main electrical and photocurrent properties of the Au/PVA(Co-doped)/n-Si diodes by using current-voltage (I–V) measurements at dark and
various illumination intensity. Two types of diodes with and without Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (Co-doped) polymeric interfacial layer were fabricated and measured at room temperature.
Results show that the polymeric interfacial layers and series resistance (RS) strongly affect the main electrical parameters of these structures. Also, metal/polymer/semiconductor (MPS)
diode with PVA (Co-doped) interfacial organic layer is very sensitive to the light such that the current in reverse bias region increase by 103-104 times with the increasing illumination
intensity. The open circuit voltage Voc and short-circuit current Isc values of this MPS diode under 100 mW/cm2 illumination intensity were found as 0.28 V and 19.3 micro Angstrom, respectively.

Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) provide an opportunity to develop new and more accurate safety assessment processes for drugs and other chemicals, and may ultimately play an important role in regulatory decision making. Not only can the development and application of AOPs pave the way for the development of improved evidence-based approaches for hazard and risk assessment, there is also the promise of a significant impact on animal welfare, with a reduced reliance on animal-based methods. The establishment of a useable and coherent knowledge framework under which AOPs will be developed and applied has been a first critical step towards realizing this opportunity. This article explores how the development of AOPs under this framework, and their application in practice, could benefit the science and practice of safety assessment, while in parallel stimulating a move away from traditional methods towards an increased acceptance of non-animal approaches. We discuss here the key areas wh...

Animal welfare is a key issue for industries that use or impact upon animals. The accurate identification of welfare states is particularly relevant to the field of bioscience, where the 3Rs framework encourages refinement of experimental procedures involving animal models. The assessment and improvement of welfare states in animals is reliant on reliable and valid measurement tools. Behavioural measures (activity, attention, posture and vocalisation) are frequently used because they are immediate and non-invasive, however no single indicator can yield a complete picture of the internal state of an animal. Facial expressions are extensively studied in humans as a measure of psychological and emotional experiences but are infrequently used in animal studies, with the exception of emerging research on pain behaviour. In this review, we discuss current evidence for facial representations of underlying affective states, and how communicative or functional expressions can be useful withi...

The study demonstrate the potentiality of satellite remote sensing technique for the generation of baseline information on forest types including tree plantation details in Bidar forest division, Karnataka covering an area of 5814.60Sq.Kms. The Total Area of Bidar forest division is 5814Sq.Kms analysis of the satellite data in the study area reveals that about 84% of the total area is Covered by crop land, 1.778% of the area is covered by dry deciduous forest, 1.38 % of mixed plantation, which is very threatening to the environmental stability of the forest, future plantation site has been mapped. With the use of latest Geo-informatics technology proper and exact condition of the trees can be observed and necessary precautions can be taken for future plantation works in an appropriate manner

The rainfall is an important governing factor in planning the agricultural program for any area. Rainfall has been observed to exhibit large spatial as well as temporal variation and it determines the drought, flood estimation as well as the environmental factors for the particular region. Knowledge of distribution of the precipitation in time and space will enable to design better rainfall-runoff models and to forecast floods to improve flood response and mitigation measures. The rainfall distribution of India is uneven and varies considerably from region to region, season to season and year to year. Present study deals with the application of Geomatics for spatial analysis of rainfall at mandal level for all the 457 Mandals of 10 Districts of Telangana Region of Andhra Pradesh, India. An attempt has been made to prepare maps in GIS environment representing spatial distribution of monthly and yearly rainfall. The values of mean monthly rainfall in mm for Adilabad, Kharimnagar, Khammam, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy & Hyderabad and Warangal districts have been found to be 80.22mm, 95.62mm, 72.80mm, 56.25mm, 60.91mm, 57.03mm, 76.46mm, 68.04mm and 80.96mm respectively. Present study demonstrated that GIS is an effective and powerful tool to carry out spatial analysis of rainfall.

ABSTRACTPharmaceutical solid dosage forms (tablets or capsules) are the predominant form to administer active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to the patient. Tablets are typically powder compacts consisting of several different excipients in addition to the API. Excipients are added to a formulation in order to achieve the desired fill weight of a dosage form, to improve the processability or to affect the drug release behaviour in the body. These complex porous systems undergo different mechanisms when they come in contact with physiological fluids. The performance of a drug is primarily influenced by the disintegration and dissolution behaviour of the powder compact. The disintegration process is specifically critical for immediate-release dosage forms. Its mechanisms and the factors impacting disintegration are discussed and methods used to study the disintegration in-situ are presented. This review further summarises mathematical models used to simulate disintegration phenomen...

There have been multiple reforms in South Africa to conserve resources including policies to enhance generic use, such as compulsory generic substitution and copayments. However, there are concerns with the limited knowledge of their impact. The objective was to determine utilization and expenditure of different proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). A retrospective drug utilization study was conducted on a prescription database of a medical aid administrator in 2010. The limited prescribing of single-sourced PPIs accounted for 21.5% of total prescriptions. The limited use of originators omeprazole and lansoprazole accounted for 1.8 and 1.4% of total prescriptions for the molecule, respectively. Generic prices accounted for 36-68% of the originator in 2010. Patients received on average 2.91 PPI prescriptions during the year. Policies to enhance prescribing of generics appear working. Opportunities exist to further lower generic prices given low prices in some European countries.

When clinical pharmacists spend more time at the wards, they provide more information to the patients. • If the management of the hospital considers increasing the level of provision of medication information to ward patients, they can ask clinical pharmacists to spend more time on the wards.

Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques both are time oriented modern computer software based analysis tools which are using for different analysis purposes. Small water bodies (e.g. Pond, Dighi, Doba, Khal, Beel) are one of the most productive ecosystems but these small water bodies are changing rapidly in its size, shape and depth over time driving the environment and human being in critical situation. Different types of small water bodies are present and under critical situation in the study area. So, with the help of GIS and RS techniques a study was conducted to explore this. To collect primary data different methods had adopted which were informal interview, satellite image based survey and GPS survey. Data also collected from different secondary sources. Findings show that Pond is the most dominant feature and after that Doba, Dighi, beel and khal, changes are more in the depth then size and shape, seasonal changes are also found and factors beh...

In order to evaluate the effects of reducing the number of animals used in the NIH mouse protection test for potency determination of inactivated rabies vaccines for human use, a retrospective study of the results obtained in the Brazilian National Control Laboratory, Instituto Nacional de Controle de Qualidade em Saúde (INCQS), was performed, comprising 214 vaccine lots. The INCQS Standard Operating Procedure establishes the use of three vaccine dilutions and 18 animals per dilution, separated into two cages with 9 mice each. The results of the two cages of each dilution were considered as two different groups (C1 and C2), and therefore, for each vaccine lot, three results were obtained: one for the standard test (ST) with 18 mice, one using the C1 cages with 9 mice and another using the C2 cages with 9 mice. The results were evaluated as repeated measures of the same method on the same samples. In this study, the effects of the reduction in: (a) the measurement error and its assoc...

Animal experimentation has been one of the most controversial areas of animal use, mainly due to the intentional harms inflicted upon animals for the sake of hoped-for benefits in humans. Despite this rationale for continued animal experimentation, shortcomings of this practice have become increasingly more apparent and well-documented. However, these limitations are not yet widely known or appreciated, and there is a danger that they may simply be ignored. The 51 experts who have contributed to Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change critically review current animal use in science, present new and innovative non-animal approaches to address urgent scientific questions, and offer a roadmap towards an animal-free world of science.

La comunicación presenta la evolución del WebLab-Deusto en estos dos últimos años. El trabajo presenta el estado actual y las mejoras en el diseño software y hardware del WebLab-Deusto. Además se presenta el resultado de su aplicación real en dos asignaturas de los cursos 2004/2005 y 2005/2006.

The dog is a frequently-used, non-rodent species in the safety assessment of new chemical entities. We have a scientific and ethical obligation to ensure that the best quality of data is achieved from their use. Oral gavage is a technique frequently used to deliver a compound directly into the stomach. As with other animals, in the dog, gavage is aversive and the frequency of its use is a cause for welfare concern but little research has been published on the technique nor how to Refine it. A Welfare Assessment Framework (Hall, 2014) was previously developed for use with the laboratory-housed dog and a contrasting pattern of behaviour, cardiovascular and affective measures were found in dogs with positive and negative welfare. Methods: Using the framework, this study compared the effects of sham dosing (used to attempt to habituate dogs to dosing) and a Refined training protocol against a control, no-training group to determine the benefit to welfare and scientific output of each technique. Results: Our findings show that sham dosing is ineffective as a habituation technique and 'primes' rather than desensitises dogs to dosing. Dogs in the control group showed few changes in parameters across the duration of the study, with some undesirable changes during dosing, while dogs in the Refined treatment group showed improvements in many parameters. Discussion: It is recommended that if there is no time allocated for pre-study training a no-sham dosing protocol is used. However, brief training periods show a considerable benefit for welfare and quality of data to be obtained from the dogs' use.

A significant movement in education concerns the use of open educational resources. By-open‖ it is generally meant that the resource is available at no cost to others for adaptation and reuse in different contexts. However-open‖ is not a simple dichotomy; rather, there is a continuum of openness. We discuss four separate aspects of reuse and demonstrate how these describe different levels of openness. We discuss how the licensing and technical aspects of open educational resources affect the relative openness of an OER. Implications for those creating open educational resources are discussed.

The pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) has been proposed as a target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in parkinsonian patients, particularly for symptoms such as gait and postural difficulties refractory to dopaminergic treatments. Several patients have had electrodes implanted aimed at the PPTg, but outcomes have been disappointing, with little evidence that gait and posture are improved. The PPTg is a heterogeneous structure. Consequently, exact target sites in PPTg, possible DBS mechanisms, and potential benefits still need systematic investigation in good animal models. We have investigated the role of PPTg in gait, developed a refined model of parkinsonism including partial loss of the PPTg with bilateral destruction of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons that mimics human pathophysiology, and investigated the effect of DBS at different PPTg locations on gait and posture using a wireless device that lets rats move freely while receiving stimulation. Neither partial nor comple...

— An approach for vehicle safety and better control is presented in this project, using adaptive vehicle control we are makimg an effort to make vehicle itself aware of conditions surrounding it.This can also be used for collecting uniform scientific data needed to make vehicle and highway transportation safer and reduce fatalities. This project gives an affordable and a very cost effective platform for vehicle to have an onboard data recorder which can be used to improve road safety which also can be used for vehicle forensics which would reveal the law enforcement authority about the failure that caused accident, and give vehicle manufacturer an idea for improvement.