Higher Capacity Levels Research Articles

Characterization of autochthonous sweet cherry cultivars (Prunus avium L.) of southern Italy for fruit quality, bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity.

Characterizing germplasm collections of autochthonous cultivars for fruit quality traits could be a successful approach for selection, improvement of organoleptic quality and levels of antioxidants of crop produce, and development of new market opportunities and coherent strategies for conservation and valorization. The aim of the study was the evaluation of fruit physicochemical traits as well as the content of bioactive compounds and the antioxidant capacity in 25 sweet cherry autochthonous cultivars. Cultivars were a source of statistically significant variation for all evaluated traits. Notably, average fruit ascorbate levels ranged from 34.45 to 244.68 µg g-1 fresh weight (FW) , total flavonoids from 1396.40 to 4694.75 µg quercetin equiv. g-1 FW, monomeric anthocyanins from 4.80 to 360.90 µg g-1 FW, and total antioxidant capacity from 1.53 to 2.58 nmol Trolox equiv. mg-1 FW. Fruit profiling of eight cultivars by high-resolution mass spectrometry identified a total of eight different anthocyanins and twenty-five non-anthocyanin polyphenolic compounds - mostly coumaroylquinic acid and neochlorogenic acid. Among the better-performing cultivars for fruit quality traits, Mulegnana Nera and Pagliarella shared high fruit levels of phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity. This is a forerunner work on the characterization of genetic resources, which is critical to researchers and breeders for exploitation of the genetic potential of cultivars and for their conservation. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Coagulopathy and transfusion requirements in war related penetrating traumatic brain injury. A single centre study in a French role 3 medical treatment facility in Afghanistan

IntroductionTraumatic brain injury associated coagulopathy is frequent, either in isolated traumatic brain injury in civilian practice and in combat traumatic brain injury. In war zone, it is a matter of concern because head and neck are the second most frequent site of wartime casualty burden. Data focusing on transfusion requirements in patients with war related TBI coagulopathy are limited. Materials and methodsA descriptive analysis was conducted of 77 penetrating traumatic brain injuries referred to a French role 3 medical treatment facility in Kabul, Afghanistan, deployed on the Kabul International Airport (KaIA), over a 30 months period. ResultsOn 77 patients, 23 died during the prehospital phase and were not included in the study. Severe traumatic brain injury represented 50% of patients. Explosions were the most common injury mechanism. Extracranial injuries were present in 72% of patients. Traumatic brain injury coagulopathy was diagnosed in 67% of patients at role 3 admission. Red blood cell units (RBCu) were transfused in 39 (72%) patients, French lyophilized plasma (FLYP) in 41 (76%), and fresh whole blood (FWB) in 17 (31%). ConclusionThe results of this study support previous observations of coagulopathy as a frequent complication of traumatic brain injury. The majority of patients with war related penetrating traumatic brain injury presented with extracranial lesions. Most of them required a high level of transfusion capacity.

Ovarian tissue culture in the presence of VEGF and fetuin stimulates follicle growth and steroidogenesis.

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation together with follicle culture provides a promising technique for fertility preservation in cancer patients. The study aimed to evaluate follicle parameters in a culture medium supplemented with VEGFA165 and/or fetuin. Vitrified-warmed ovarian cortical pieces were divided randomly into four culture groups consisting of basic culture medium (control), and the basic culture medium supplemented with VEGFA165, fetuin or both. After six days of culture, we evaluated the following: percentage of resting, primary and secondary growing follicles; survival rate; steroid hormones production; levels of reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation and total antioxidant capacity; and developmental and antioxidant gene expression. The addition of VEGFA165 alone or in combination with fetuin to the culture medium caused resting follicle activation and increased the number of growing follicles. In the VEGFA165 group, we found a significant increase in the concentrations of 17β-estradiol at day 6 and progesterone from 4th day of the culture period. In the VEGFA165 + fetuin group, the concentration of 17β-estradiol rose at day 4 of the culture period. The levels of BMP15, GDF9 and INHB mRNAs were increased in all treated groups. In the fetuin and fetuin + VEGFA165 groups, we observed a high level of total antioxidant capacity and expression of SOD1 and CAT genes, low reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation levels and increased number of viable follicles. In conclusion, the present study provides useful evidence that supplementation of culture medium with VEGFA165 + fetuin leads to primordial follicle activation and development and increased percentage of healthy secondary growing follicles.

Aging Affects Dopaminergic Neural Mechanisms of Cognitive Flexibility.

Few studies have combined measurement of brain dopamine with examination of the neural basis of cognition in youth and aging to delineate the underlying mechanisms of these associations. Combining in vivo PET imaging of dopamine synthesis capacity, fMRI, and a sensitive measure of cognitive flexibility, we reveal three core findings. First, we find evidence supporting older adults' capacity to upregulate dopamine synthesis. Second, we define relationships between dopamine, cognition, and frontoparietal activity in young adults indicating high levels of synthesis capacity are optimal. Third, we demonstrate alteration of these relationships in older adults, suggesting neurochemical modulation of cognitive flexibility changes with age.

Concentration of Colourful Wild Berry Fruit Juices by Membrane Osmotic Distillation via Cascade Model Systems

Fresh juices of colourful wild berries: cornelian cherry, blackthorn, white beam and elderberry are considered as valuable, highly nutritive beverages and characterized by the high level of vitamins and antioxidant capacity. The concentration process of these juices by membrane osmotic distillation was studied, where only water vapour is eliminated, while the heat sensitive, valuable compounds can be preserved. To shorten the length of the concentration period, cascade model systems with 2, 3 and 4 stages were examined, using model sucrose solutions and real fruit juices. 60 °Brix of juice concentration was possible to reach, with a flux of 0.3-2.4 L m-2 h-1. Furthermore, as a result of cascade system experiments, the length of the separation could be shortened, significantly.

Бенчмаркінг і фандрайзинг як засоби трансформації та інтенсифікації розвитку вітчизняної ветеринарної науки

The article deals with concepts such as benchmarking and fundraising, as well as the problem of financing the national veterinary science. Ukraine has a high level of intellectual capacity, but under current conditions it is not able to fully implement it, turn in the finished product and get economic benefits. Need effective management system. For decades overdue modernization of the national veterinary science requires the establishment of an effective system to develop, analyze, test and implement changes that will lead to improvement. This requires an organized and systematic approach, and time and resources. As they say - is powerless therapy required surgery! And preferably operative! One of the products of evolution of global management, benchmarking has become as one of management. Benchmarking - a systematic activity aimed at finding, analysis, evaluation and implementation of the best forms of any business. It can be regarded as one of the most important areas strategically focused market research. This alternative method of strategic planning in which tasks are determined not to have reached you, and by analyzing the performance of competitors. Striving to be the best of the best, captures the essence of benchmarking. There are many types of benchmarking, but internal benchmarking should be the starting point. Major errors in this process - not to notice the real reason why some organization works better than yours and lack of adequate preparation for such activities. The implementation of new ideas requires resources. This includes the implementation process benchmarkenhu in veterinary research units. More and more organizations in our country are trying to obtain such funds through grants. Therefore, an active fundraising activities and special person - or fundraisers Fundraising Manager. Because fundraising is largely dependent on whether the person has professional skills and she believes what is trying to convince others. Currently fundraising activities in Ukraine is in its infancy in this area, including in the field of veterinary medicine, few professionals with special training and experience of fundraising that can effectively attract resources into objects of veterinary science. And this situation should be urgently corrected. You must enter a state for each veterinary scientific institution position fundraisers - professional (scientist-manager) who, after a thorough study be supervised by national and international grants and should have adequate material and moral motivation of their activities.

Sector‐based DNA information hiding method

AbstractAs the next generation sequencing and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis technologies rapidly develop, DNA engineering became faster and cheaper with higher accuracy than before. External information such as secret messages or digital archives can be embedded into the DNA sequence by mutating its molecular sequence according to a certain algorithm. This study presents a sector‐based DNA steganography method using non‐coding regions of the DNA sequence as the host for carrying binary data. The aim of the sector‐based embedding is to have a high level of security, data capacity, and error handling while preserving the organism's life information. A sector consists of reference bases, segmented message bases, and parity bases. The parity bases can detect and handle mutation errors in each sector. The sector length controls the data capacity and security. Our in silico experiments verified that the bit‐per‐nucleotide of our method can be [1.2, 2.0] by controlling the sector length, which is 0.2 point higher than that of conventional methods. As many as 104 base mutations in the DNA sequence can be handled for perfect message retrieval. Furthermore, the probability for message detection without keys is lower than 1.3949 × 10−62, which is very low. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The confident forecaster. Lessons from the upscaling of the electricity industry in England and Wales

This article analyses the upscaling technological stage in the life cycle of capital-intensive technologies from the business history viewpoint. We correspondingly demonstrate how the pursuit of technological trajectories based on systematic increases in the size and power capacities of units pushed a new class of professionals, skills and procedures to the forefront of business decision-making. From 1958 onwards, forecasting framed and sharpened organisational insight into problems. Drawing on archival data on coal-fired, oil-fired and nuclear powered stations in England and Wales, the final section proceeds to measure the gap between reality and forecasts and singles out three major hypotheses to explain forecasting errors: inability to predict rapid changes outside the model (inter-fuel substitution); disregard of technical shortcomings in replication and standardisation, and overconfidence in extrapolating cost reductions at higher capacity levels.

Bridging the Gap: The Role of the Patient-Centered Medical Home in Reducing Time to Follow-Up After Hospital Discharge.

Poor transitions in care represent opportunities for improvement. The purpose of this study was to examine whether early follow-up by patients discharged from a hospital varied as a function of patient-centered medical home (PCMH) capacity. The PCMH capacity was not significantly associated with early follow-up; however, higher levels of capacity were associated with early follow-up among patients with more chronic conditions. Policy makers and practitioners should consider how the PCMH may be targeted to maximize its potential to improve transitions in care for these patients and ways it may be modified to improve transitions for other types of patients.

The Effect of Interchange Rotation Period and Number on Australian Football Running Performance.

Montgomery, PG, and Wisbey, B. The effect of interchange rotation period and number on Australian Football running performance. J Strength Cond Res 30(7): 1890-1897, 2016-To determine the effect of on-field rotation periods and total number of game rotations on Australian Football running performance, elite Australian Football players (n = 21, mean ± SD; 23.2 ± 1.7 years; 183.5 ± 3.7 cm; 83.2 ± 4.5 kg) had Global Positioning System game data from 22 rounds divided into a total of 692 on-field playing periods. These periods were allocated into time blocks of 2:00-minute increments, with the log transformed percentage differences in running performance (m·min) between blocks analyzed by effect size and meaningful differences. A total of 7,730 game rotation and associated average m·min combinations collected over 3 Australian Football seasons were also assessed by effect size and meaningful differences. Running capacity decreases after 5:00 minutes by ∼3% for each 2:00 minutes of on-field time up to 9:00 minutes, with variable responses between positions up to 6.7% for nomadic players. For each rotation less than 6 per game, clear small-to-moderate decreases up to 3.6% in running capacity occurred per rotation. To maintain a high level of running capacity, shorter on-field periods are more effective in Australian Football; however, players and coaches should be aware that with interchange restriction, slightly longer on-field periods achieve similar results.

커뮤니티 비즈니스로서 농촌관광마을 공동사업 운영자의 경영역량 특성 분석

Managerial capacity of operators in rural tourism as a community business is important to successful tourism development in Korea. The study examined the typology of managerial capacity among rural tourism operators as a community business and identified the characteristics of operators according to those typologies. A self-administered survey was obtained from 132 operators in one village. As for the managerial capacities of tourism operators, four factors (human resource management, marketing/financial management, product development, leadership) were extracted. Two distinct segments were identified based on managerial capacities: A high level of managerial capacities(33.3%), and a low level of managerial capacities(66.7%). Results showed that high income male operators were more likely to have a high level of managerial capacity throughout the group. Those individuals were more likely to be heads of the organization and operators of agricultural processing businesses. The findings should be of interest to rural tourism and community business practitioners.

Measuring individual skills in household waste recycling: Implications for citizens' education and communication in six urban contexts

ABSTRACTThis article reports the analysis of six urban contexts in which a practical tool measuring individual skills concerning household waste recycling was tested. The tool is a structured questionnaire including a simulation task that assesses respondents' abilities to sort household waste adequately in a given context/municipality. Results indicate that the questionnaire can reach high levels of internal coherence and discrimination capacity and it can be administered together with a set of open-ended and closed questions to assess relationships with other relevant factors. Both the theoretical and applicative potentials of the instrument for educational and communicational domains are discussed.

State First, Then Democracy: Using Cadastral Records to Explain Governmental Performance in Public Goods Provision

This article presents a theoretical argument of how and why democratization at different levels of state capacity matters for public goods provision and subjects the argument to empirical tests. Building on rational choice theories of public goods production, we argue that credible enforcement before credible commitment—democratizing after the state has acquired high levels of state capacity—leads to a more efficient social order than the opposite sequence. Using a theoretically grounded and novel indicator of historical state capacity—the extent and quality of cadastral records—the analysis shows that those countries where the state developed extensive enforcement capacities before democratization exhibit, on average, better provision of essential public goods and are less corrupt.

Визначення та оцінка фізичної працездатності студентів-баскетболістів

Kuzminchuk A., Gradusov V. Purpose: assess the level of physical efficiency of students – basketball players by using the Harvard step test. Material & Methods: the analysis of scientific-methodical literature, educational testing, pedagogical experiment, methods of mathematical statistics. For determination and assessment physical efficiency of students – basketball players used the Harvard step test. In pedagogical testing for assessing special performance was attended by 14 students – basketball players (n=14) men's teams of the Medical Institute of Sumy State University. Results: the analysis of scientific and technical literature showed gaps in training basketball players, namely, to improve the physical performance. Especially these problems are when basketball training sessions combine with study in higher educational institutions. The load that caused a combination of mental and physical labor is enough to affect on the performance, develop resistance to fatigue. Still need to look for approaches that can help in conditions of single 3-4 workouts per week to maintain a high level of physical capacity of basketball players. Conclusions: analyzing the test results of basketball team players at Medical Institute of Sumy State University, we can say that the level of physical performance is satisfactory and functional status is mediocre. Players need more regular training which includes special exercises with high intensity close to competitive conditions.

Factors in the effective transfer of knowledge from multinational enterprises to their foreign subsidiaries: a Mozambican case study

The purpose of this article is to better understand the role of internal stakeholders in subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs) in order to offer potential insights into the cross‐border transfer of knowledge from those companies’ headquarters to their subsidiaries. The focus is upon subsidiaries in developing countries, here Mozambique. More specifically, the article is concerned with identifying factors that influence the learning of internal stakeholders and noting practices which seem associated with a high level of absorptive capacity and performance of subsidiaries. The starting point is evidence of ineffective transfer of knowledge by MNCs to their subsidiaries in developing countries, with consequent sub‐standard performance. The research reported involves four case studies of Portuguese companies operating in Mozambique and draws on data from interviews with senior and middle managers in the firms’ Mozambican subsidiaries. The results obtained suggest that successful knowledge transfer to overseas subsidiaries is found under the following conditions. First, the parent company knows the local context and provides a flow of relevant information. Second, application of knowledge locally is done flexibly to suit local circumstances. Next, a participatory approach is used so that local staff can see why the knowledge conveyed is necessary. Fourth, explanation and demonstration are key techniques, with major roles for on‐the‐job training, continuous improvement and training at headquarters. Finally, issues arising from local culture may need to be addressed.

Evidencing the association between swimming capacities and performance indicators in water polo: a multiple regression study.

Swimming capacities are hypothesized to be important determinants of water polo performance but there is an evident lack of studies examining different swimming capacities in relation to specific offensive and defensive performance variables in this sport. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between five swimming capacities and six performance determinants in water polo. The sample comprised 79 high-level youth water polo players (all males, 17-18 years of age). The variables included six performance-related variables (agility in offence and defense, efficacy in offence and defense, polyvalence in offence and defense), and five swimming-capacity tests (water polo sprint test [15 m], swimming sprint test [25 m], short-distance [100 m], aerobic endurance [400 m] and an anaerobic lactate endurance test [4× 50 m]). First, multiple regressions were calculated for one-half of the sample of subjects which were then validated with the remaining half of the sample. The 25-m swim was not included in the regression analyses due to the multicollinearity with other predictors. The originally calculated regression models were validated for defensive agility (R=0.67 and R=0.55 for the original regression calculation and validation subsample, respectively) offensive agility (R=0.59 and R=0.61), and offensive efficacy (R=0.64 and R=0.58). Anaerobic lactate endurance is a significant predictor of offensive and defensive agility, while 15 m sprint significantly contributes to offensive efficacy. Swimming capacities are not found to be related to the polyvalence of the players. The most superior offensive performance can be expected from those players with a high level of anaerobic lactate endurance and advanced sprinting capacity, while anaerobic lactate endurance is recognized as most important quality in defensive duties. Future studies should observe players' polyvalence in relation to (theoretical) knowledge of technical and tactical tasks. Results reinforce the need for the cross-validation of the prediction-models in sport and exercise sciences.

Pulsed electric field assisted vacuum freeze-drying of apple tissue

Impact of apple treatment by pulsed electric field (PEF) on vacuum freeze-drying was studied. Apple discs were PEF treated at an electric field strength of E = 800 V/cm for the different values of disintegration index Z. Then vacuum cooling was applied to decrease the temperature to sub-zero level and freeze-drying experiments were done at a pressure of 10 mbar. Time evolution of temperature and moisture content were compared for the PEF treated and untreated apple samples. Acceleration of cooling and drying processes was observed for the PEF treated samples. The microscopic, macroscopic analysis and data of capillary impregnation test evidenced that the PEF treatment facilitates preservation of the shape of the dried samples, allows avoiding shrinking and results in increase of the tissue pores. The sample rehydration capacity strongly depends on Z. At Z = 0.96 a high level of rehydration capacity (≈ 1.3) was observed. Different methods of food drying are very popular for food processing and are widely used for food preservation. However, they are very energy intensive processes and can cause undesirable changes of colour, flavour, nutrient and textural properties of foods. Vacuum freeze-drying allows obtaining high-quality food products. On the other hand, this process is power consuming, requires long time and low pressure and can provoke the damage of final dried product. Thus, the development of efficient and optimal methodology for freeze-drying of foodstuff is relevant. Application of PEF as a pretreatment procedure may be useful for improving the efficiency of drying and the quality of dried products.

Do Natural Disasters Hurt Tax Resource Mobilization?

According to several reports, natural disasters and climate change will intensify and dampen development if appropriate measures are not implemented. Our paper contributes to this literature and analyzes the impact of natural disasters on domestic resource mobilization in developing countries. Using propensity score matching estimators over the period of 1980-2012 for 120 developing countries, our results conclude that government revenues decrease in the aftermath of natural disasters. Moreover natural disasters that occur in border countries have a negative impact on government revenues of neighbor countries. However, the adverse effects of natural disasters are dampened in countries with high level of resilience capacity and stronger governance.

Perceived adaptive capacity and natural disasters: A fisheries case study

Fishermen may be increasingly impacted by natural disasters, given sea level rise and the likely increased frequency and severity of storms associated with climate change. Planning for resiliency in the face of these disasters requires understanding the factors that influence fishermen’s capacity to adapt. The paper examines perceptions of adaptive capacity of New York and New Jersey commercial and for-hire fishermen one year after Hurricane Sandy. Subjective adaptive capacity to changes in the fishery in general and those caused by natural disasters was assessed. A comparison between commercial and for-hire fishermen revealed important differences and similarities with regard to attributes influencing their perceived adaptive capacity. While both groups show high levels of coping capacity in general, for-hire fishermen presented more confidence in their ability to obtain work and income outside the fishery while commercial fishermen were more confident in their ability to remain in fishing. For both groups, those that suffered more intense impacts from the storm had more negative levels of perceived adaptive capacity. Understanding the perceived adaptive capacity of commercial and for-hire fishermen can help researchers and policy makers better understand and address each sector’s response to impacts of future natural disasters and human driven changes.

Think tanks and strategic policy-making: the contribution of think tanks to policy advisory systems

Think tanks have proliferated in most Western democracies over the past three decades and are often considered to be increasingly important actors in public policy. Still, their precise contribution to public policy remains contested. This paper takes the existing literature in a new direction by focusing on the capacity of think tanks to contribute to strategic policy-making and assessing their particular role within policy advisory systems. We propose that strategic policy-making capacity requires three critical features: high levels of research capacity, substantial organizational autonomy and a long-term policy horizon. Subsequently, we assess the potential of think tanks to play this particular role in policy-making, using empirical evidence from structured interviews with a set of prominent Australian think tanks.