In pork production, the efficiency of dietary protein (AA) use is low, resulting in urinary excretion of large quantities of nitrogen as urea. Use of AA and formation of urea are under enzymatic regulation, suggesting genetic regulation. The current study examined the effects of sire line, sire, and sex on growth characteristics and plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) concentrations in the offspring of ...

How do changes in the market architecture affect the dynamics of deregulated electricity prices? We investigate this issue in the context of the Italian Power Exchange (IPEX), using data on the daily average day-ahead price (PUN) between April 2004 and December 2008. Estimates of baseline time series models (ARMAX and ARMAX-EGARCH) and their forecasting performances suggest that the trend in na...

Why do our patients have to meet our needs? The image I have is not someone who is difficult, but rather someone who is doing the best she can in her own life and is not willing to bend to fit our expectations. R eceiving a referral for a patient who is described as being difficult is not uncommon for me, particularly after many years of working in what some might call “non-mainstream” areas. H...

The paper argues for a graded approach to the study of artificial intelligence. In contrast to the Turing test approach, such an approach permits the measurement of incremental progress in AI research. Results on the conceptual abilities of pigeons are summarized. These abilities far exceed the generalization abilities of current AI programs. It is argued that matching the conceptual abilities ...

number of icu beds is one in the important indexes of providing health care for the critically ill patients around the world. lack of icu beds may delay admission to icu and causes patients’ poorer prognosis [1]. there are 20 and 15 icu beds/100,000 inhabitants in the usa and canada respectively. in european countries including germany, france and uk the number of icu beds per 100,000 persons i...

Plasma urea nitrogen can be used as an indicator of N use and excretion by an animal. The objective of this research was to assess the effect of residual feed intake (RFI) on plasma concentration of urea N (PUN) in 188 bulls, heifers, and steers (mean body weight = 652 lb, SD = 82 lb) ranging from 100% Angus to 100% Brahman. Calves were assigned to pens in a GrowSafe feeding facility by sire gr...