Master of Public Health / Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology / M. M. Chengappa / Rabies is the most deadly disease on earth and has a 99.9% human fatality rate. Rabies kills 61,000 humans annually and results in an economic burden of $124 billion USD annually. Each day 3.3 million people live with the risk of rabies. It is estimated that 95% of human rabies cases are a result of coming in contact with an infected canine, majority of these cases being children 15 years and younger. It is estimated that 1 person every 8 minutes dies of rabies. Rabies is a highly neurotropic disease which attacks the brain and central nervous system. Once clinical symptoms are presented, death is invariably the outcome as no cure exists for rabies. Rabies is 100% preventable in humans by proper wound management and proper administration of prophylaxis. Rabies can be adequately controlled in animal populations by contraception and animal rabies vaccine efforts. Whilst it is known that rabies can be prevented in humans and controlled in animal populations, further scientific efforts are still warranted to fully understand this deadly virus so that a cure can one day be discovered. As human and animal populations continue to grow, so does the cost and burden of this horrific disease. As a result, the importance of prophylaxis and passive immunity are critical in the event of medically managing an exposure, and preventing exposures. The World Health Organization has defined global recommendations for individuals and animals who have received prophylaxis to be adequately protected. Measuring this protection is performed using a variety of approved testing methodologies, virus-neutralizing assays and antigen-binding assays. Whilst the WHO recommendations were defined from clinical studies performed with virus-neutralizing assays, the assumption that these recommendations are suitable for the antigen-binding assays is inaccurate. The testing methodologies, virus-neutralization and antigen-binding, share similarities, as they are measuring an immune response to the rabies virus. However; enough differing characteristics are presented such that exact comparisons cannot be made. Establishing the same standards and recommendations for both testing methodologies will never be sufficient.

Master of Science / Department of Clinical Sciences / Daniel Ulan Thomson / Consulting veterinarians (CV; n=23) representing 11,295,000 head of cattle on feed in the United States and Canada participated in a beef cattle health and well-being recommendation survey. Veterinarians were directed to an online survey to answer feeder cattle husbandry, health and preventative medicine recommendation questions. The CV visited their feedyards 1.7 times per month. All CV train employees on cattle handling and pen riding while only 13% of CV speak Spanish. All CV recommend IBR and BVD vaccination for high-risk (HR) calves at processing. Other vaccines were not recommended as frequently by CV. Autogenous bacterins were recommended by 39.1% CV for HR cattle. Metaphylaxis and feed-grade antibiotics were recommended by 95% and 52% of CV, respectively, for HR calves. Banding was more frequently recommended than surgical castration as calf body weight increased. The CV recommended starting HR calves in smaller pens (103 hd/pen) and allowing 13 inches/hd of bunk space. The CV indicated feedlots need to employ one feedlot doctor per 7,083 hd of HR calves and one pen rider per 2,739 hd of HR calves. Ancillary therapy for treating respiratory disease was recommended by 47.8% of CV. Vitamin C was recommended (30.4%) twice as often as any other ancillary therapy. Cattle health risk on arrival, weather patterns and labor availability were most important factors in predicting feedlot morbidity while metaphylactic antibiotic, therapy antibiotic and brand of vaccine were least important. This survey has provided valuable insight into feeder cattle health recommendations by CV and points to needed research areas.

The aim of the thesis: The aim of this observational study of non-interventional nature, was to map the representation of macronutrients and selected micronutrients in the menus served to patients suffering of gastritis as well as other nutrition diets. Additionally, to research and review the dietary systems in healthcare facilities of the Czech Republic, in order to compare the obtained data with recommended nutritional intakes, as recommended/stated in the issue "Reference Values for Nutrition Intake". The purpose is to evaluate, whether both types of the diets follow the recommended values. Methodology: The source of the data for this thesis were the menus distributed to patients following the recommendations of norms related to gastritis and rational nutrition diets for the period of one week. By applying the "Nutriservis PROFESIONAL software" the content of studied macronutrients and selected micronutrients in the daily menus was determined in the collected data. Results: Ten selected healthcare facilities from six regions in the Czech Republic participated in the research. It was determined from the obtained data, that insufficient presence of fiber, wrong balance, as well as the amount of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids along with high amount of sodium were the key malpractices,...

La quantité incroyable de contenu disponible dans les services en ligne rend le contenu intéressant incroyablement difficile à trouver. La manière la plus emblématique d’aider les utilisateurs consiste à faire des recommandations. Le graphe des K-plus-proches-voisins (K-Nearest-Neighbours (KNN)) connecte chaque utilisateur aux k autres utilisateurs qui lui sont les plus similaires, étant donnée une fonction de similarité. Le temps de calcul d’un graphe KNN exact est prohibitif dans les services en ligne. Les approches existantes approximent l’ensemble de candidats pour chaque voisinage pour diminuer le temps de calcul. Dans cette thèse, nous poussons plus loin la notion d’approximation : nous approximons les données de chaque utilisateur, la similarité et la localité de données. L’approche obtenue est nettement plus rapide que toutes les autres. / The incredible quantity of available content in online services makes content of interest incredibly difficult to find. The most emblematic way to help the users is to do item recommendation. The K-Nearest-Neighbors (KNN) graph connects each user to its k most similar other users, according to a given similarity metric. The computation time of an exact KNN graph is prohibitive in online services. Existing approaches approximate the set of candidates for each user’s neighborhood to decrease the computation time. In this thesis we push farther the notion of approximation : we approximate the data of each user, the similarity and the data locality. The resulting approach clearly outperforms all the other ones.

Internal N efficiency (IE) is defined as the amount of grain dry matter (GDM) produced per unit of N in the above ground plant at physiological maturity (PMN). Currently, a static value of IE (48 kg GDM kg^-1N) is used to define the optimal PMN in yield goal-based N recommendations used in 30 U.S. states and several N recommendation models. To evaluate the accuracy and variability of this value of IE at the economic optimum N rate (IE_E), experiments were conducted at 47 sites located in eight states over a three year period (2014-2016). To establish IE_E, N treatments ranged from 0 to 315 kg N ha^-1 in 45 kg N ha^-1 increments, applied either at-planting or split with 45 kg N ha^-1 at-planting and the remainder at the V9±1 V-stage. Average IE_E across all site-years was 53 kg GDM kg^-1 N with 79% of the observations between 46 and 60 kg GDM kg^-1 N, higher than the currently accepted value of IE. Half of the time the timing of N application affected IE_E, with greater IE_E with split N in 70% of these instances due to lower PMN arising from reduced stover dry matter. In most cases the timing of N did not affect IE_E. Across all site-years, GDM at the EONR or EONR were unrelated to IE_E. Plant N content at VT of the non-fertilized and 45 kg N ha^-1 at planting treatments were single variables most highly correlated with IE_E (<i>p</i> ≤ 0.10, r = -0.42 and -0.50, respectively). These variables reflected the amount of residual or available N retained in the plant and/or SDM at the optimal N rate. Other factors such as plant available water content at various depths and crop reflectance at the V9 leaf stage (sufficiency and simple ratio indices for both NDVI and NDRE at 0 and 45 kg N ha^-1) were negatively related to IE_E across all site-years, but only weakly. Predictive models for IE_E at planting and prior to sidedressing accounted for < 50% of the variation in IE_E. Internal N efficiency varied considerably, but was difficult to predict, thus contributing to the inaccuracy of the yield-goal based N recommendations.

Em virtude do rigoroso clima quente da cidade de Ribeirão Preto, a questão do conforto térmico assume destacada relevância no projeto de edificações. Porém, como em outros locais, os significativos avanços nas pesquisas em conforto térmico no ambiente construído não têm se refletido na prática do projeto de edificações na cidade. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é gerar um conjunto de recomendações de projeto para edificações em Ribeirão Preto, sob a ótica do conforto térmico. São recomendações gerais e de fácil aplicação, voltadas às primeiras fases do processo de projeto, e que buscam uma maior aproximação dos profissionais projetistas com os conceitos de conforto térmico no ambiente construído. Para a elaboração deste conjunto de recomendações, utilizou-se como parâmetro um método e uma norma existentes, além de uma detalhada análise dos componentes e particularidades climáticas locais. / Towards the high temperatures the city of Ribeirão Preto presents, the thermal comfort became a very important issue in the building design. However, as at other locations, the significant progress of research in thermal comfort in the internal environment does not have been reflected in the practicing professional in the city. The objective of this work is to deliver some recommendations for design building in Ribeirão Preto, under the thermal comfort concept. These are general recommendations and easy to be used, focused at the first project phases, reaching the professionals with the concepts of thermal comfort in the internal environment. For these recommendations, were used as a method a parameter and a standard and a detailed analysis of existing components and features local climate.

Foram avaliados diferentes programas nutricionais com o objetivo de comparar os índices produtivos e econômicos de frangos de corte machos. Foram utilizadas 1.200 aves da linhagem Cobb 500&reg;, submetidas a delineamento inteiramente casualizado com 5 tratamentos e 8 repetições, com 30 aves por unidade experimental. Os programas nutricionais consistiram em: Manual Cobb 500&reg; (2008); NRC (1994); Rostagno et al. (2005); Rostagno et al. (2011) e Rostagno et al. (2011) modificado. Foram avaliadas características de desempenho e de carcaça no período de 1 a 46 dias de idade, respeitando as fases de criação de acordo com cada recomendação. As características foram consumo de ração, peso corporal, ganho de peso, conversão alimentar, viabilidade criatória, consumo de energia, conversão calórica e índice de eficiência produtiva. Para a análise econômica, foi realizado o cálculo da margem bruta de comercialização, de acordo com o custo da dieta e preço do frango vivo. Os resultados de desempenho, rendimento de carcaça e econômico foram avaliados por análise de variância e, para comparação entre as médias dos tratamentos, avaliados pelo teste de Tukey (P&lt;0,05). Conclui-se que o plano nutricional de acordo com o manual Cobb 500&reg; (2008) foi o que apresentou melhor margem bruta e NRC (1994) a pior. Quanto à produtividade, não houve diferença estatística entre os planos nutricionais. Recomenda-se, portanto, a utilização das recomendações do manual Cobb 500&reg; (2008), como forma de se obter melhor lucratividade na produção de frangos de corte. / Different feeding programs were evaluated aiming to compare the broilers\' performance and economic indexes. 1,200 birds were subjected to a completely randomized experimental design with 5 treatments and 8 replicates with 30 birds per experimental unit. The feeding programs consisted of: Cobb 500&reg; Manual (2008); NRC (1994); Rostagno et al. (2005); Rostagno et al. (2011) and Rostagno et al. (2011) modified. Feed intake, body weight, weight gain, feed conversion, viability, energy consumption, caloric conversion, productive efficiency index, and carcass characteristics were evaluated in the period from 1 to 46 days of age. The gross trade margin was calculated for economic analysis. The results were evaluated based on a variance analysis, and the Tukey test (P&lt;0.05) was used to compare treatment means. It is concluded that the feeding program based on the Cobb 500&reg; manual (2008) showed the best trade gross margin, while NRC [1994] the worst. Considering the main performance characteristics, there were no statistical differences among the nutritional programs. Thus, the recommendations contained in the Cobb 500&reg; manual (2008) should be used as a means of achieving greater profitability in broiler production

Cette thèse de doctorat comprend trois essais relatifs au genre des analystes financiers. Les résultats empiriques de la première étude attestent d'une sous-représentation des femmes analystes et confirment que la culture nationale exerce un impact important sur la représentation des femmes chez les analystes financiers dans les pays européens étudiés. La deuxième étude montre que les analystes hommes sont plus susceptibles de formuler des recommandations innovantes que les analystes femmes, du fait d'une plus forte confiance en leur jugement. Enfin, les conclusions de la troisième étude montrent que les recommandations innovantes déclenchent des réactions plus fortes de la part des investisseurs, mais on ne note aucune différence de genre dans les réactions du marché à ces recommandations innovantes. Les conclusions empiriques de cette thèse complètent la littérature sur les analystes financiers, et plus particulièrement sur l'impact du genre dans la prise de décisions financières. / This PhD dissertation consists of three essays relating to gender concerns among financial analysts. The empirical results of the first study provide evidence for under-representation of female analysts and confirm that national culture exerts a material impact on female representation among financial analysts across European countries under study. In the second study, I document evidence that male analysts are more likely to issue innovative recommendations than female analysts, due to their relative overconfidence. Finally, the findings of third study suggest that innovative recommendations trigger larger market reactions but there is no gender difference in market reactions to innovative recommendations. The empirical findings of my dissertation complement prior literature on financial analysts, more specifically, gender-based difference in financial market decision making.

This work deals with anxiety being involved in ESL teaching to adult students. Its causes and negative consequences are discussed. Its aim is to reveal whether anxiety is a real issue in ESL that should be acknowledged and if it is, what can be done in order to prevent it or at least identify it and be able to work with it. The theoretical part deals with the delimitation of the term anxiety and puts anxiety in the psychological and pedagogical context. The development of research in this area is described and the relevant findings are presented. Practical part consists of mixed research dealing with the extent to which anxiety impacts foreign language learning in the first part. The second part based on interviews with anxious learners brings into light the specific causes of foreign language classroom anxiety which allows the conclusions in the form of practical recommendations to be drawn for English teachers. Key Words: Anxiety, adult learners, ESL classes, recommendations

Os analistas de ações desempenham um papel relevante nos mercados de capitais, na medida em que, direta ou indiretamente, contribuem para a precificação dos papéis e para a composição das carteiras de investimentos. A proposta deste estudo foi a de verificar se é possível obter retornos extraordinários, acima daqueles oferecidos por uma carteira de mercado, com o acompanhamento das recomendações de ações emitidas por analistas do mercado de capitais brasileiro. Com base em uma ampla gama de recomendações consensuais referentes ao período que abrangeu os anos de 2000 a 2010, e com o acompanhamento das séries históricas de retornos dos papéis cobertos pelas análises, foram comparados os desempenhos de duas carteiras, uma formada por ações que receberam recomendações favoráveis e outra formada por ações que receberam recomendações desfavoráveis dos analistas. Os resultados mostraram a existência de um viés nas recomendações, dado que há, sistematicamente, um número maior de favoráveis frente às recomendações desfavoráveis. E mostraram, principalmente, que os analistas não foram capazes de identificar as ações que efetivamente ofereceram maiores retornos ao longo do período considerado. / The stock analysts have a relevant role in the capital markets, because, directly or indirectly, they contribute to the paper pricing and to the composition of the investment portfolio. The proposal of this study was to verify if it is possible to obtain extraordinary returns, above those offered by a market portfolio, with the monitoring of the stock recommendations issued by Brazilian capital market analysts. Based on a wide range of consensual recommendations concerning the period from 2000 to 2010, and with the historical series of return of the monitoring of the historical series of paper returns covered by the analyses, the performance of two portfolios, one formed by stocks that received favorable recommendations and the other one formed by stocks that received unfavorable recommendations of the analysts. The results showed the existence of biases in the recommendation, since there is, systematically, a greater number of favorable against unfavorable recommendations. They also showed that, mainly, the analysts were unable to identify the stocks which actually offered greater returns within the period considered.