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Touching the skin by gentle stroking is frequently used to reward horses. The objective of the study was to examine emotional excitability and behaviour of horses in response to stroking different regions of their bodies. The study included 15 adult warmbloods and 15 adult ponies, nine geldings and six mares within each type of horse. First, a novel-object test was conducted. For five successive days, one of five regions of the horse's body was stroked on each side for 5 min. Heart rate and heart rate variability were monitored at rest, during the test and stroking. Simultaneously, horse behaviour was assessed on a 1-5 scale. The data were analysed using analysis of variance GLM, Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference test and Spearman's correlation coefficient. When stroked, horses were more excited than when at rest. Differences in emotional excitability and behaviour while stroking various body regions depended on the type and sex of horses. Parameters studied indicated that both in warmbloods and ponies, stroking the head may be beneficial, whereas the trunk should be treated with caution. Stroking may have a more positive influence in horses of lower emotionality and highly estimated behaviour at rest and during the novel-object test.

The effectiveness and quality of agricultural spraying largely depends on the technical efficiency of the nozzles installed in agricultural sprayers. The uniform spraying of plants results in a decrease in the amount of pesticides used in agricultural production and affects environmental safety. Both newly developed sprayers and those currently in use need quality control as well as an assessment of the performance of the spraying process, especially its uniformity. However, the models applied presently do not ensure accurate estimates or predictions of the spray liquid coverage uniformity of the treated surface. Generally, the distribution of the atomized liquid quantity is symmetrical and leptokurtic, which means that it does not fit well to the commonly used standard distribution. Therefore, there is a need to develop and design new tools for the evaluation, modeling, and prediction of such a process. The research problem studied in the present work was to find a new model for the distribution of atomized liquid quantity that could provide capabilities better than have been available so far to assess and predict the spraying process results. The research problem was solved through the formulation of a new function for the probability density distribution of sprayed liquid accumulation on the surface of the preset dimension size. The development of the new model was based on the results from a series of water atomization tests with an appropriate measurement device design based on the widely applied flat fan nozzles (AZ-MM type).

It has been widely underlined that both gynaecological malignancies and urogynaecological disorders are often associated with high stress and have a negative impact on the quality of life and psychological well-being of women affected. Knowledge of the pelvic anatomy is crucial in recommending and carrying out the least harmful although successful treatment. Subsequent chemoradiation may also induce or exaggerate troublesome symptoms. The aim of the study was to establish the frequency of urogynaecological symptoms (stress urinary incontinence, urgency, pelvic organ prolapse) and to assess the impact of surgical treatment and additional oncological therapy: pelvic radiation, chemoradiation, chemotherapy, on the prevalence of pelvic floor dysfunctions (PFD) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in patients suffering from gynecological malignancies. The study group consisted of 160 women, diagnosed with gynaecological malignancy, who underwent surgical treatment and additional adjuvant treatment as necessary. To establish the QoL and prevalence of PFD Urinary Distress Inventory-6 (UDI-6), Incontinence Impact Questionnaire 7 (II-Q7), King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and the SF-36 Questionnaire were used. Herein, 69 patients reported urinary incontinence (UI) and 67 reported symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse (POP). After the six months follow-up UI was found in 78 patients, 25 patients showed de novo symptoms, 65 patients reported POP and 10 patients demonstrated de novo POP. Our data show that urogynaecological symptoms are not correlated with the type of malignancy, but with the extensiveness of surgery.