In three experiments consisting of three finishing trials each, five corn storage and(or) feeding treatments were evaluated: 1) dry whole (DWC); 2) whole high-moisture (WHMC); 3) mixture (MHMC) of ground (GHMC) or rolled (RHMC) high-moisture corn with WHMC; 4) GHMC stored in a bunker silo; and 5) RHMC, corn stored whole but fed in rolled form. In Exp. 1, gains and feed intakes of steers fed who...

In particle therapy, knowledge of the stopping-power ratio (STPR) of the ion beam for water and air is necessary for accurate ionization chamber dosimetry. Earlier work has investigated the STPR for pristine carbon ion beams, but here we expand the calculations to a range of ions (1 ≤ z ≤ 18) as well as spread-out Bragg peaks (SOBPs) and provide a theoretical in-depth study with a special focus...

Motor skills represent high-precision movements performed at optimal speed and accuracy. Such motor skills are learned with practice over time. Besides practice, effects of motivation have also been shown to influence speed and accuracy of movements, suggesting that fast movements are performed to maximize gained reward over time as noted in previous studies. In rodents, skilled motor performan...

The present study investigated the effects of gain compensation and venting on front-to-back ratios (FBRs), speech understanding in noise, and acceptance of noise in 19 listeners with hearing impairment utilizing directional hearing instruments. The participants were separated into two groups based on degree of low-frequency hearing sensitivity. Subjects were fitted binaurally with Starkey Axen...

The replacement of old radiologic contrast media with supposedly safer but more expensive media has created a dilemma for radiologists and hospital administrators. To quantitate the nature of this trade-off we performed a cost-utility analysis using optimistic assumptions that favoured the new media. A complete conversion to the new media would result in an incremental cost of at least $65,000 ...

BACKGROUND Many guidelines recommend screening mammography every 1-2 years for women older than 40 years; more than 70% of women now participate in routine screening. No studies have examined the societal impact of screening practices over the past decade in the United States on costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). We performed a retrospective cost-effectiveness analysis comparing act...

BACKGROUND Power for assessing interactions during data analysis is often poor in epidemiologic studies. This is because epidemiologic studies are frequently powered primarily to assess main effects only. In light of this, some investigators raise the Type I error rate, thereby increasing power, when testing interactions. However, this is a poor analysis strategy if the study is chronically und...

A total of 240 Ross 308 day-old male broiler chicks within a completely randomized design were used in this experiment to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion of turmeric powder and cinnamon powder on performance and some immune responses of broiler chickens. Dietary treatments were as follow: a corn-soybean meal basal diet (control); basal diet + 10 ppm avilamycin; basal diet + 2.5 g/Kg t...

AIMS To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an intervention substituting physicians with nurse specialists. BACKGROUND   Increasing populations of people with diabetes in most Western countries require creative solutions that give high-quality chronic care while controlling costs. Instigating nurse specialists as a substitute for physicians yields positive results in this area. Research about ...

Turbo codes are sensitive to both (timing) synchronization errors and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) mismatch. Since turbo codes are intended to be deployed in environments with very low SNR, conventional synchronization methods often fail. This paper introduces a solution for jointly estimating the SNR and achieving timing synchronization based on the statistics of the received signal. Simulation...