Body composition estimated by bioelectrical impedance analyses is diminished by prenatal stress in neonatal lambs and by heat stress in feedlot wethers

Body composition correlates to carcass value in livestock, which makes the ability to accurately estimate body composition in the live animal beneficial (Berg and Marchello, 1994). Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a clinical tool used to assess body composition in humans (Lukaski et al., 1985), but its use in livestock has been minimal. Lean and fat content contribute to profitability for livestock producers, and poor body composition can be caused by stress that occurs either during in utero development (De Blasio et al., 2007) or during postnatal growth (Boyd et al., 2015). Maternal hyperthermia-induced placental insufficiency (Brown et al., 2015) and sustained maternal inflammation (Cadaret et al., 2018) are two established causes of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). IUGR-born animals are characterized by asymmetrical growth restriction that alters lifelong body composition due to impaired muscle growth capacity (Yates et al., 2018). In addition, acute heat stress during periods of peak postnatal growth can alter body composition in livestock (Boyd et al., 2015). We postulate that BIA can detect these changes in the live animal. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine whether BIA measurements can predict changes to body composition in live neonatal lambs exposed to intrauterine stress and in heat-stressed feedlot lambs

Open-source, custom interfaces and devices with live coding in participatory performance

This conference paper is available to download from the publisher’s website at the link below.This paper will discuss the use of open-source, custom interfaces and live coding in artworks and performance practices, using emerging devices that focus on revealing hidden, intimate and sensuous code of the body for manipulation and play. This paper review the new landscape of open-source artworks, with recent examples of such artworks, as well as one by the author, resulting in a new performance aesthetic that uses 'hacked' commercial, mobile and gaming devices for live coding, performance and interactive artworks. It discusses how dancers, live artists, musicians and others are participating in the DIY and 'Maker' movement, to create exciting wearable electronics and mobile applications for performance enhancement. The author will consider the possibilities of playful, expressive, gestural, and live coding, as well as using the DIY Maker ethos in multi-sensory particpatory performances with new devices. The author's own artistic research has involved re-combinatory practices and hybridisations of participatory performance, mobile media, wearable biofeedback sensors and live database interaction in a recent performance project MINDtouch. Her new collaborative work Hacking the Body, is about making participatory performances and interactive dance pieces that expose 'code' of the inner body

The role of objective and subjective evaluation in the production and marketing of goats for meat

Objective and subjective evaluations of goats for meat production are related to important determinants of production and profitability. The most important attributes in assessment of goats for market are: live weight; body condition score; and the age of goats. As goats grow, their carcass and body organs increase in weight in proportion to the empty body weight. For farmers and field workers the linear regression approach for estimating carcass weight by measuring live weight is the most suitable as it accounts for 88 to 97% of the variation in carcass, offal and boneless meat weight. Live weight scales or heart girth tapes should be used and the risks and errors associated with these methods are summarized. The proportion of a live goat that is the carcass, known as dressing percentage, increases from 35% to about 50% as goats grow. The usefulness and errors associated with dressing percentage in field estimation are discussed. A valuable subjective method for estimating the nutritional status of goats is the use of body condition scoring as it accounts for 60 to 67% of the variation in live weight change, carcass weight and fat reserves of goats. A method for body condition scoring and a similar fat scoring system are explained. Body condition score is also associated with mortality risk and reproductive performance of goats. The number of permanent incisors in the lower jaw of goats is a method of estimating the age of goats but is biased by differences in live weights of goats. The value and role of ultrasound scanning the carcasses of goats is summarized. For the marketing of kid meat no permanent incisors should have erupted. Other useful practices for the successful marketing of goat meat are discussed including: knowing market specifications and chemical withholding periods; animal health; prevention of bruising; identification of goats; size of consignments; timeliness; provision of paperwork. A checklist is provided. The use of subjective and objective assessment techniques in evaluating goats for meat production will provide the best results. Where only subjective assessment techniques are available they will provide satisfactory performance provided the skills have been learnt and are applied.<br /

Rethinking live electronic music: a DJ perspective

The author critiques the conventional understanding of live electronic music through empirical research on his own DJ practice and investigates others working in the field. In reviewing the opinions of theorists and practitioners in both the live electronic music genre and DJ-ing he argues against the body/machine dialectic that has determined much of the thinking in the former. The author forms a notion of the DJ as a real-time composer working beyond traditional binary distinctions who brings the human body and machine into a mutual relationship. Through practice-led research he charts an investigation beginning in physical human gesture and culminating in digital machine repetition. He concludes that mechanical and digital repetition do not obscure human agency in the production of live works and that this concern is imaginary

She Works - She Writes (performance) and Research and Collaboration (artists talk)

‘She Works - She Writes’ is a work that simultaneously incorporates the narrative documentation of a live action as an integral element of its performance. It analyses the processes and methods of the body as archival record and interpretative account and explores the dialogue between the body politic, as the objectifiable property of performance, and its socialisation as documentary artifact. Effectively, it examines the ways in which the live can be denied being made static through documentation. In expanding and exploring the role of the documenter and their methods of communication in this way, a sense of narrative, of interpretation, is engaged. The document tells a story - it describes an actuality. Yet is it possible to take the document as a true account of the event being transcribed? This dilemma is explored in this work as the documenter will act as the communicator of a ‘hidden’ performance, a performance that only they can see. Beyond hearing the sounds of the ‘hidden’ performer, the audiences understanding of the work will be wholly reliant on the process of textual documentation. The documenter is effectively the sole observer of the methods and processes informing their narration, and they are relied upon to communicate the truth. Like looking through a lens that has been set up for someone else and responds to their viewpoint only, they are positioned to respond to the process of documentation and to analyse their relationship to it. The performer’s body will be denied politicization here, as its objectification will be denied. Instead the documenter, the usually veiled interpreter of the live experience, will trade places with the performer. In this way they will become the body of objectification by communicating the archival legacy of the live event. ‘She Works - She Writes’ is a development from ‘Live / Archive’ which was made and performed as part of a residency in Spring 2012 at Grace Exhibition Space, New York. The performance and accompanying talk titled 'Research and Collaboration', which discusses and details the varying approaches in our work, were scheduled by invitation from Miami International Festival

A Welcome Abuse : Notes on Finding Community Through the Battered Book

The book-body and the flesh-body live in tangent. Or such should be the case, if we allow the book to live with us and not under glass, in plastic sleeves, in a safe, under lock and key in a climate-controlled, neutrally lit niche. If we welcome damaged goods into our home and release them into the homes of others. We can learn a lot about ourselves and our fellow readers by considering a story’s casings: patience, for one thing. That community extends beyond the immediate and into the virtual, for another. That we all want to be roughed up. For what is an untouched book but an unlived life

Relationships Among Live Body Weight and Some Body Measurements in Sudanese Kenana Bulls

. The phenotypic relationship between live body weight (kg) and body measurements (cm) for Sudanese bulls is explored. In this research, data from one visit survey were used to estimate the relationships between live body weight and some body measurements of Sudanese Kenana bulls. General linear model analysis with multivariate ANOVA when all physical variables were response and animal live body weight groups (kg) as independent, and simple linear Pearson\u27s correlation were formed between live body weight (Bwt), Heart girth (HG), Heart girth at hump (HTH), Body length (Bl) and Abdominal girth (ABG). The results revealed the best linear correlation between body weight and measurements was heart girth at hump (0.65, 0.66 and 0.73) respectively, for live body weight groups. The obtained linear correlation coefficients were relatively highly accurate indicators of live body weight. This suggests that live body weight could be estimated accurately by body measurements in Sudanese Kenana Bulls

Life fingerprints of nuclear reactions in the body of animals

Nuclear reactions are a very important natural phenomenon in the universe. On the earth, cosmic rays constantly cause nuclear reactions. High energy beams created by medical devices also induce nuclear reactions in the human body. The biological role of these nuclear reactions is unknown. Here we show that the in vivo biological systems are exquisite and sophisticated by nature in influence on nuclear reactions and in resistance to radical damage in the body of live animals. In this study, photonuclear reactions in the body of live or dead animals were induced with 50-MeV irradiation. Tissue nuclear reactions were detected by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the induced beta+ activity. We found the unique tissue &#x22;fingerprints&#x22; of beta+ (the tremendous difference in beta+ activities and tissue distribution patterns among the individuals) are imprinted in all live animals. Within any individual, the tissue &#x22;fingerprints&#x22; of 15O and 11C are also very different. When the animal dies, the tissue &#x22;fingerprints&#x22; are lost. The biochemical, rather than physical, mechanisms could play a critical role in the phenomenon of tissue &#x22;fingerprints&#x22;. Radiolytic radical attack caused millions-fold increases in 15O and 11C activities via different biochemical mechanisms, i.e. radical-mediated hydroxylation and peroxidation respectively, and more importantly the bio-molecular functions (such as the chemical reactivity and the solvent accessibility to radicals). In practice biologically for example, radical attack can therefore be imaged in vivo in live animals and humans using PET for life science research, disease prevention, and personalized radiation therapy based on an individual&#x27;s bio-molecular response to ionizing radiation

Acoustic Impulse Responses for Wearable Audio Devices

We present an open-access dataset of over 8000 acoustic impulse from 160 microphones spread across the body and affixed to wearable accessories. The data can be used to evaluate audio capture and array processing systems using wearable devices such as hearing aids, headphones, eyeglasses, jewelry, and clothing. We analyze the acoustic transfer functions of different parts of the body, measure the effects of clothing worn over microphones, compare measurements from a live human subject to those from a mannequin, and simulate the noise-reduction performance of several beamformers. The results suggest that arrays of microphones spread across the body are more effective than those confined to a single device.Comment: To appear at ICASSP 201

Live Weight Estimation by Chest Girth, Body Length and Body Volume Formula in Minahasa Local Horse

Study was conducted in the regency of Minahasa to estimate horse live weight using its chest girth, body length and body volume formula (cylinder volume formula) represented by animal chest girth and body length dimensions, particularly focused in Minahasa local horses. Data on animal live weight (LW), body length (BL), chest girth (CG) and body volume were collected from 221 stallions kept by traditional household farmers. Animal body volume was calculated using cylinder volume formula with CG and BL as the components of its formula. Regression analysis was carried out for LW with all the linear body measurements. The data were classified on the basis of age. Age significantly (P &lt; 0.05) influenced the body measurements except animal body length (P&gt;0.05). Animal live weight was predicted by simple regression models using dependent variable (Y) of the animal live weight and independent variable (X) of the animal body measurement, either body length, chest girth, or body volume. The correlations between all pairs of measurements were highly significant (P &lt; 0.01) for all age groups. Regression analysis showed that live weight could be predicted accurately from body volume (R2= 0.92) and chest girth (R2= 0.90). Simple regression model that can be recommended to predict horse live weight based on body volume with their age groups ranging from 3 to ≥10 years old was as follow: Live weight (kg)= 5.044 + 1.87088 body volume (liters). The analyses of data on horse chest girth, body length and body volume formula provided quantitative measure of body size and shape that were desirable, as they enable genetic parameters for these traits to be estimated and also included in breeding programs