It is becoming more and more evident that  adding intelligence  to existing computer aids, such as computer aided design systems, can lead to significant improvements in the effective and reliable performance of various engineering tasks, including design optimisation. This paper presents three different intelligent modules to be applied within a computer aided design optimisation cycle to enable more intelligent and less experience-dependent design performance.

Aim. To investigate risk factors for brachial plexus palsy in newborns. We analyzed 45 544 live-born children, born over a nine-year period from January 1, 1996 to December 31, 2004. Methods. The analysis was retrospective and based on the medical documentation of the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics, Clinic for Neurology, and Clinic for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the University Clinical Center Tuzla. We compared study and control groups of newborns. Rates among groups were compared using Chi-square, with significance at p < 0.05, and with significance at p < 0.01. Results. Examining epidemiological characteristics, 86 newborns with brachial plexus palsy had been recorded, thus, the prevalence was 1.86 per 1000 live-born children. Analyzing maternal and neonatal factors, and the labor pattern itself, it was found that the highest factors of risk for brachial plexus injury were birth weight of over 4000 g, a precipitous second stage of labor (<15 minutes), and vacuum-extractor assisted labor. Brachial plexus palsy was more frequent when the mothers were overweight, with a body mass index ≥29 kg/m2. None of the parturient women, whose newborns were diagnosed with brachial plexus palsy, had external conjugate diameter <18 cm. Newborns delivered vaginally were not diagnosed with a higher frequency of brachial plexus palsy when compared to newborns who were delivered by cesarean section, but newborns who were vaginal breech-delivered were diagnosed to have a higher incidence of brachial plexus palsy. Newborns whose mothers were older than 35 years were diagnosed to have brachial plexus palsy more frequently, but a statistically significant difference between primiparas and multiparas was not found. A total of 39 newborns (45.2%) were diagnosed with a fracture of the clavicle, which was the most frequently combined damage with brachial plexus injury. Forty-two newborns (48.8%) had an Apgar score of ≤7 in the first minute after delivery, which indicates intrapartal fetal distress and is an indication of the traumatic nature of these deliveries. The average birth weight of newborns with brachial plexus damage was 3858.1±587.7 g, which for an average gestational age of 38.8±1.8 weeks, corresponds to eutrophic newborns. Both male and female newborns were diagnosed to have brachial plexus palsy comparably frequently, and almost all deliveries (97.7%) were initiated spontaneously. The majority of newborns were born between the hours of 02:00 and 03:00 and between the hours of 14:00–15:00.

Cilj rada bio je utvrditi varijabilnost pri mjerenju povrsine m.longissimus dorsi (MLD) standardnom metodom planimetriranja i primjenom racunalnog programa Image tool za analizu digitalne slike. Povrsina MLD-a mjerena je na sest leđnih isjecaka trupa goveda (7/9 rebro). Povrsina MLD-a opcrtana je na paus papir i izmjerena polarnim planimetrom. Slike za mjerenje povrsine misica primjenom racunalnog programa dobivene su skeniranjem leđnih isjecaka u mjerilu 1:1. Sva mjerenja povrsine MLD-a su obavljena u tri ponavljanja po svakom uzorku od strane sestoro razlicitih mjeraca. Komponente varijance procjenjene su REML metodom. Udio varijance greske u ukupnoj varijanci usljed ponavljanja mjerenja kod koristenja ¨Image tool¨ programa bio je mnogo manji (0.09 %) u odnosu na udio varijance greske kod standardne primjene planimetra (3.17 %). Primjena ¨Image tool¨ racunalnog programa imala je 35 puta vecu preciznosti mjerenja povrsine MLD-a u odnosu na standardnu metodu planimetriranja.

The objective of this investigation was to determine the carcass traits (weight and measurements, dressing percentage, cooling loss, shares of separated fat and dissected muscle, fat, bone and tendon tissues as well as shares of beef cuts of different retail categories) of young Simmental bulls (n=13) and heifers (n=13) classified according to EUROP system which were produced as Croatian baby beef destined for Italian market. The classification showed a favorable conformation of both, bulls and heifers with about one third carcasses graded as highest E class. The heifers’ fatness was less favorable and almost half of carcasses were classified as high fat class (4) and thus less valuable. The heifers over fatness was confirmed by significantly higher amount of trimmed carcass fat and higher share of fat tissue and lower share of muscle than bulls after carcass dissection. The carcasses of both sex classified as most valuable E class had the lowest proportion of muscle which imply a need for an additional improvement of conformation assessment practice. The differences between bulls and heifers in dressing percentage, carcass cooling loss, shares of Milanese cut, bone and tendon tissue as well as shares of cuts of different beef retail categories in the carcass were relatively small.

In Turopolje pig breed the carcass and tissues composition were established by analysing the share of muscle (M), fat (F) and bone (B) tissues in the carcass and the chemical content (water, W, protein, P, lipid, L, ash, A) in the back fat and m. Longissimus dorsi (MLD) as well as the some traits (diameter and proportions) of slow-twitch oxidative, (SO), fast-twitch glycolitic, (FG), fast oxidative, glycolitic, (FOG), fibre types in the last. Investigation was caried out on Turopolje breed hogs (n=10, age 679 ± 20 days and 100.3 kg ± 4.9 kg). Pigs were fattened in the outdoor system of flood forests and marsh meadows biocenosis (Quercus robur and Deschampsietum caespitosae) according to traditional Croatian technology of low input feed (0.5kg of corn seed/day/animal) in ecosystem. On the slaughter line the animals and carcasses were separetly weighted and cut according to Weniger (1963) method and by total dissection. The samples of muscle and fat tissues were taken from MLD and belonging back fat in height of the 13/14 inter rib space after chilling of 24 h and +4oC for chemical analysis (by Weende methods). For histochemical analysis (Salamon at al. 1981, Pearse, 1972) the sample of MLD from the same place were taken 5 min. after slaughter and frozen in liquid nitrogen until analysis. At Turopolje pig breed in the cold carcass (79, 7 kg) was estimated the share of tissues respectively: M, 40.5 % ; F, 33.8 % ; B, 9.7% and lard, 4.0% double chain, 3.2%. The chemical contents of MLD and back fat were respectively: W, 74.71% and 7.25 ; P 21.19% and 1.49 ; L, 1.46% and 91.76% and A, 1.o6 and 0.06. The size and proportions of fibre types in MLD were respectively: SO, 38.9 µm and 10.5% ; FG, 57.7 µm and 52.9% ; FOG, 53.5 µm and 36.7%.

A 2X3 factorial experiment was conducted using a total of 504, 1 day old, Cob 500â commercial broilers to determine the effect of added copper (0 or 250 ppm) and full fat soybean meal level (10, 20 and 30 %) on the growth performance and carcass properties in broiler chickens. The chickens fed 250 ppm copper as copper sulfate had lower (P<0.05) average daily gain and lower finally average body weight then chickens fed no added copper diets. Also, added copper impaired (P<0.05) feed conversion ratio during 49-d experimental period. The chickens fed with 30% full fat soybean meal in diet had higher (P<0.01) average daily gain during day 7 to 49 and higher (P<0.01) average body weight at day 49 then those consuming other diets. The addition of 250 ppm of copper improved dressing percentage (P<0.01), increased (P<0.05) lightness of breast muscle and tended to reduce abdominal fat content (P<0.06). The results indicate that the addition of 250 ppm copper to broiler diets have adverse effect on growth performance, but improve dressing percentage and decrease abdominal fat content. Using a 30 % of full fat soybean meal in a broiler diet improves growth performance without negative effect on dressing percentage and abdominal fat content in 49 days fattening period.