Academic literature on the topic 'Variations (4 horns)'

The objectives of this paper are to analyze whether there is a significant difference among widely used Higgins model and Van Horne model and whether these two competing sustainable growth rate models (SGR) estimate divergences in ways that are systematically related to variations in common financial characteristics. We find that Higgins SGR when used as continuous and dichotomous variables is more affected by variations in financial characteristics than Van Hornes model. This study confirms that Higgins and Van Hornes models are qualitatively and approximately the same in relation to most common financial characteristics of a firm. However, if the Higgins model is used to compute SGR, it would give higher SGR for more profitable firms than Van Hornes. A firm with higher leverage is given higher SGR in Van Hornes than Higgins. Variations of liquidity, debt maturity and financial distress are trivial in economic sense. Finally, we find that the both Higgins and Van Hornes models result in approximately same (less than 4%) loss in sample size and not induce more sample-selection bias. We suggest that Higgins and Van Hornes models are equally preferable from both the managers and researchers point of view.

A dogma of mammalian reproduction states that primordial germ cells in females are restricted to the intrauterine phase and only small portions of oocytes are available for ovulation during the adult life. Among the rare exceptions to this rule is the plains viscacha. It polyovulates up to 800 oocytes per cycle, from which 10 to 12 are implanted, but only 1 to 2 conceptuses survive. To better understand the main mechanisms involved in these patterns of super-ovulation, super-implantation, and embryonic loss in the viscacha, we conducted an analysis of the ovary and uterus of pregnant females and their conceptuses. Pregnant females (n = 16) of ~50 and 90 days of gestation (early to mid-gestation) were selected for conceptus recovery. Hemi-ovariohysterectomy was performed following surgical and anaesthetic protocols used for laboratory animals and the conceptuses collected. Female fetuses of Day 50 (n = 2) and 90 (n = 1) of gestation were obtained from Estación de Cría de Animales Silvestres, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The reproductive organs were investigated by means of gross morphology, histology (hematoxilin and eosin), stereology (quantification of the volume of the ovary and number of ovary follicles), immunohistochemistry (PCNA, Oct-4, VEGF, and Caspase-3), and transmission electron microscopy. In the Day 50 fetal samples, the ovaries had an ovoid shape with smooth surface without apparent folds. First steps of subdivision were observed in the ovary of fetus of 90 days. The total volume of all fetal ovaries was of 4.8 mm2 and a coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.32. The ovaries of adult individuals had remarkable invaginations with surface projections and were small, asymmetrical, and dorsoventrally flattened with a mean of 77.6 mm3 (CV = 0.47). Only adult females had differentiation of germ cells. Primordial follicles had a mean of 9.9 × 105 (CV = 0.19), representing 93% of the total number of ovarian follicles. The mean of primary follicles was 3.05 × 104 (CV = 0.36), whereas for secondary follicles it was 2.75 × 104 (CV = 0.50), each representing 3% of all ovarian follicles. The number of antral follicles in several stages of development was 8.64 × 103 (CV = 0.75), representing 1% of the follicles. Primordial follicles expressed pluripotency (Oct-4+) and proliferation (PCNA+) markers, as well as the primary follicles. The cells did not react for Caspase-3 as marker for apoptosis. Variations regarding to the vascularization of the different regions of the uterine horn were observed, which were more intense and efficient near to the cervix. Data showed that a specialised, highly convoluted structure of the ovarian cortex developed in the intrauterine phase as a prerequisite for massive super-ovulation, associated with the inhibition of apoptosis and continued proliferation of germ cells, as well as maintenance of several corpora lutea during the adult life. Thus, a highly complex pattern of polyovulation, polyimplantation, and controlling mechanisms has evolved in the female reproductive system of the viscacha that mainly was associated with the maternal side. After an in-depth analysis of the arterial and venous vascularization of the uterine horns and uteri, we speculate that specializations regarding the vasculature and musculature evolved first and then contributed as a compensatory or controlling mechanism for polyovulation and polyimplantation. In conclusion, polyovulation in the viscacha represents a unique enigma in reproductive biology.

The transfer of an embryo into the uterine horn contralateral to the ovary bearing the corpus luteum has been associated with a decreased pregnancy rate in cattle compared with transfer into the ipsilateral horn. These findings suggest that the environment in the contralateral horn is less conducive to supporting conceptus development than that of the ipsilateral horn. Therefore, this study compared the endometrial transcriptome of the ipsi- and contralateral uterine horns during the luteal phase. Endometrial samples from the ipsi- (IPSI) and contralateral (CONTRA) horns were collected from synchronized nonpregnant beef heifers on Days 5, 7, 13 or 16 post-oestrus (n = 5 heifers per time point). Total RNA was isolated and sequenced. Differences in the transcriptome were determined by edgeR-robust analysis. Principal component analysis found that IPSI and CONTRA have distinct patterns of gene expression on each day, with Day 5 exhibiting the most variation and Day 16 being least variable. Further, the 2 uterine horns had distinct expression patterns on Day 5, with IPSI exhibiting significantly higher variation in gene expression compared twitho CONTRA. EdgeR-robust analysis found 217 (201 up- and 16 down-regulated), 54 (44 up- and 10 down-regulated), 14 (13 up- and 1 down-regulated), and 18 (14 up- and 4 down-regulated) differentially expressed genes (DEG; >2-fold change, false discovery rate P < 0.05) between IPSI and CONTRA endometria on Days 5, 7, 13, and 16 of the oestrous cycle, respectively. The top 5 canonical pathways associated with DEG between IPSI and CONTRA during the luteal phase of the oestrous cycle were involved in signalling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells (73/138), progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation (55/89), endometrial cancer (31/51), ErbB signalling pathway (50/87), and mTOR signalling pathway (36/61). The impact of DEG on signalling pathways was assessed using a pathway perturbation algorithm called Signalling Pathway Impact Analysis (SPIA). This topology-based pathway analysis was conducted using the Bioconductor ToPAseq package (https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ToPASeq.html) and revealed that signalling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells showed the highest perturbation score when IPSI was compared with CONTRA irrespective of day. Discovering and cataloguing which pathways are perturbed in each uterine horn throughout the oestrous cycle may contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying early embryonic loss. Ths study was supported by Science Foundation Ireland (13/IA/1983) and the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and The Marine (13S528).

AbstractThe traditional subgenera of Colon Herbst containing the North American fauna are Colon s.str., Myloechus Latreille, and Eurycolon Ganglbauer. We use these and also describe Tricolon and Striatocolon as new subgenera. Identification of species in the genus Colon is taxonomically difficult because of allometric variation of external characters in males, and lack of distinctive characters in females. We present keys, illustrations, and descriptions to distinguish the known North American species. A total of 37 species names have been previously applied to Colon in North America. We designate lectotypes for Colon thoracicum Horn, C. asperatum Horn, C. oblongum Blatchley, C. dentatum LeConte, C. pusillum LeConte, C. putum Horn, C. hubbardi Horn, C. nevadense Horn, and C. liebecki Wickham. We recognize 16 names as synonyms of previously named species as follows: C. clavatum Mannerheim = C. bidentatum Sahlberg; C. complicatum Hatch = C. celatum Horn; C. decore Casey = C. thoracicum Horn; C. excisum Hatch = C. hubbardi Horn; C. femorale Hatch = C. lanceolatum Hatch; C. kincaidi Hatch = C. hubbardi Horn; C. mannerheimi Szymczakowski = C. oblongum Blatchley; C. pusillum Horn = C. dentatum LeConte; C. putum Horn = C. dentatum LeConte; C. paradoxum Horn = C. bidentatum Sahlberg; C. nevadense Horn = C. celatum Horn; C. productum Hatch = C. hubbardi Horn; C. rufum Hatch = C. dentatum LeConte; C. schuhi Hatch = C. discretum Hatch; C. serripoides Hatch = C. asperatum Horn; C. pribilof Hatch = C. liebecki Wickham. We describe 22 species as new, as follows. In the subgenus Tricolon: C. blatchleyi and C. pacificum. In the subgenus Colon: C. arcum, C. nitidum, C. politum, and C. vancouverensis. In the subgenus Myloechus: C. boreale, C. californicum, C. chihuahua, C. chiricahua, C. grossum, C. hatchi, C. hesperium, C. incisum, C. longitorsum, C. megasetosum, C. mesum, C. monstrosum, C. pararectum, C. potosi, C. similare, and C. xilitla. All these species are restricted to North America except for C. bidentatum and C. politum which are northern Holarctic. This yields 42 species recognized for the North American fauna. These beetles occur in forest, open woodland, and grassland habitats. Their larvae, biology, and food are still unknown.

1. Thirty-one physiologically identified primary afferent fibers were labeled intracellularly with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). 2. A computer analysis was used to determine whether the distribution of cutaneous mechanoreceptive afferent terminals varies as a function of location within the dorsal horn somatotopic map. 3. An analysis of the geometry of the projections of these afferents has shown that 1) terminal arbors have a greater mediolateral width within the region of the foot representation than lateral to it, 2) terminal arbors have larger length-to-width ratios outside the foot representation than within it, and 3) the orientation of terminal arbors near the boundary of the foot representation reflects the angle of the boundary. Previous attribution of mediolateral width variations to primary afferent type are probably in error, although there appear to be genuine variations of longitudinal extent as a function of primary afferent type. 4. Nonuniform terminal distributions represent the first of a three-component process underlying assembly of the monosynaptic portions of cell receptive fields (RFs) and the somatotopic map. The other two components consist of the elaboration of cell dendritic trees and the establishment of selective connections. 5. The variation of primary afferent terminal distributions with map location is not an absolute requirement for development of the map; for example, the RFs of postsynaptic cells could be assembled with the use of a uniform terminal distribution for all afferents, everywhere in the map, as long as cell dendrites penetrate the appropriate portions of the presynaptic neuropil and receive connections only from afferent axons contributing to their RFs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

For stem cell production and detailed morphological analysis 12–14-day-old bovine embryos are suitable. However, it has been proven to be difficult to extend the in vitro culture period beyond Days 8–9, and it was the aim of the present experiment to examine whether it might be possible to culture 6–7-day-old in vitro-produced (IVP) embryos for a period of 5–7 days in the uterine horns of heifers. The IVP embryos were produced by standard procedures. Briefly, IVM took place in DMEM medium supplemented with 5% serum, EGF, and eCG/hCG, and IVF was carried out in TALP medium under 5% CO2 in humidified air and at 38.5°C. IVC took place in SOFaaci supplemented with 10% serum under 5% CO2, 5% O2 and 90% N2 at 38.5°C .The embryos were cultured in vitro to Days 6–7 post insemination, when morulas and blastocysts of excellent quality were placed in HEPES-buffered TCM199 with 10% serum, loaded in numbers of 10–30 into 0.25 mL straws, and then transported to the place of transfer in a portable incubator at 38.5°C. The embryos were transferred nonsurgically to the mid or distal part of the uterine horns of 28 dairy heifers which were heat synchronized with injections of cloprostenol (Estrumat Vet, Schering-Plough, Farum, Denmark) to a cycle stage of embryo age +1 day. In 16 heifers, embryos were transferred into both sides and for the remaining ones only into the horn ipsilateral to the ovary bearing the corpus luteum. After 5–7 days, the heifers were flushed nonsurgically by standard method, using a flushing catheter of large caliber (Minitab® 18 G) and slow infusion and evacuation of the fluid. The differences in recovering rate among horns were identified by Fisher's Exact test. Data are given as LS means ± SEM values and statistical differences assigned at the P < 0.05 level. In 6 of the 28 heifers no embryos were obtained; in these 6 cases, the quality of the transferred embryos, the transfer procedure, the heifers, and the flushing procedures did not differ in any obvious way from those of the successful flushings, which numbered 22 (79%). The mean embryo recovery rate was 40 ± 3% with a variation from 7% to 93%. There was a minor but not statistically significant difference between the overall recovery rate of embryos from the ipsi- versus contralateral horn, respectively (44 ± 5% vs. 38 ± 6%). In only 4 of the 16 heifers where transfer occurred to both horns was the recovery rate higher in contralateral side, compared to 9 heifers where the highest recovery rate was seen in the ipsilateral side. The oldest elongated embryos were in one occasion damaged and in another tangled, making it difficult to isolate the individual embryo; apart from that, all of the embryos seemed of excellent quality making it possible to isolate the embryonic discs. It can be concluded that it is possible to culture in vitro produced Day 6–7 bovine blastocysts in the uterus of synchronized heifers and to achieve an acceptable recovery of Day 12–14 embryos.

When the golf swing is involving all body segments and is thus considered as one of the most complex of sports motions. The aim of this study was to determine the selected kinematic parameters of movement of pelvic and segments of the upper body (shoulder rotation, hip rotation, X-Factor, stretch X-Factor) that affect the club head speed at ball contact in elite golfers. To build the upper body segment model were used spots and their position during the measurement was scanned by 3D kinematic analyzer CODA Motion System. To determine the interindividual stability of performance the coefficient of variation was used and for statistical analysis of the relationship between kinematic and temporal parameters and the club head speed at ball contact the Pearson's correlation coefficient was used. We found a high interindividual stability in maximized shoulders rotation and club head speed at ball contact parameters. When analyzing relationship between the club head speed at ball contact and the observed kinematic parameters of the movement of the upper body only a high relationship with the stretch X-factor parameter was found.

Each class of livestock has some peculiar qualitative traits and in goats some of these are coat pigmentation, horned/polled, beard/non-beard, wattled/non-wattled. Since the impact of environment is important in phenotypic expression of qualitative traits, it becomes expedient to examine these features in West African Dwarf Goats (WADG) from every climatic region of the world. To accomplish this, a total of 623 WADGs aged between 3 and 4 years reared extensively in Ekiti state region of Nigeria were purposively selected from the three agricultural zones in the state for the examination. Data were collected on coat pigmentation, horns, wattle and beard on sex basis. The commonest pigmentation was black at 31.29%, 35.43% and 34.18% in the three zones and the least encountered was mixed pigmentation at 11.66%, 07.62% and 08.44% respectively. The number without wattles (57%) outnumbered those with wattles (43%). 88% had no beards and 87% were horned. 30% of does had wattles and 59% were horned as against 13% and 29%, respectively in bucks. In all, 2% of doe and 9% of buck had beards. The levels of variation in the traits surveyed in the three Districts indicated that WADGs in the region are predominantly black, not wattled, not bearded and horned.

Huge amount of by-products is still considered as waste and is simply disposed, for example by-product gas is usually flared. Political and social pressure to reduce air pollution and national needs for energy security make these waste fuels interesting for near-future power generation. Unfortunately most of these waste fuels, even when liquefied or gasified, have very low quality and can hardly be used in high-efficiency power systems. Among main challenges are low calorific value and composition fluctuation. Additionally very often there is a high content of sulphur, siloxanes, tars, etc., which have to be removed from the fuel. Modern 4-stroke gas engines designed for power generation applications provide very high efficiency, high reliability and availability. Unfortunately, these gas engines require high quality fuel with stable composition. Horus-Energia together with Cracow University of Technology developed a novel gas supply system HE-MUZG that can adapt to current gas quality and change engine settings accordingly.This article will present results from the HE-MUZG system tests on modern 4-stroke spark-ignition gas engine. Tests focus on low quality gas, such as gas with low calorific value, gas with very low methane number and gas with very big variations of calorific value. Test results compared with performance of that engine in the original configuration show huge improvements. Moreover the HE- MUZG system is easy to implement in commercial gensets.

Phase structure distortion of the probe field that occurs when the collimator-type assemblies of irradiators used in measuring the polarization scattering matrices of location objects are used as part of the radar measuring complex was discussed. It is shown that, due to the specific design, the phase centers of the irradiators in the assembly are removed from the collimator focus, resulting in the appearance of longitudinal-transverse defocusing, which is expressed in the slope and curvature of the wavefront of the probe field. For a quantitative analysis of these distortions, a method for calculating the ray path in the «irradiator – collimator mirror – test zone» system is proposed. For the MAK-5 collimator, numerical estimates of the phase distribution and slope of the wavefront of the probe field, as well as variations in bistatic angles corresponding to the use of an irradiator assembly for radar measurements, were obtained. It is shown that, with the displacements of the phase centers of the irradiators in the assembly not exceeding the wavelength, the field formed by them has a quasi-plane character – the phase change in the plane perpendicular to the propagation direction does not exceed 8°. However, the slope of the wavefront of the probe field to the longitudinal axis of the collimator, as well as the fundamentally bistatic nature of the measurements, are sources of inextricable systematic errors in measuring the scattering characteristics of targets when using irradiator assemblies.