Effects of dietary inclusion of commercial toxin binders and prebiotics on performance and immune responses of broiler chicks fed aflatoxin-contaminated diets

This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the dietary inclusion of commercial toxin binders (CTs) and prebiotics on growth performance, immune responses, intestinal morphology and blood variables of broiler chicks fed with aflatoxin and non-aflatoxin-contaminated diets. Six hundred one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chicks, initial weight of 42 ± 3 g, were used in 10 treatments with six replications (n = 10 birds). ASRI1 and ASRI2 commercial toxin binders and lactose prebiotic were included in their diets. Experimental diets included: 1) basal diet without aflatoxin and additives (NC); 2) basal diet containing aflatoxin (PC); 3) NC diet containing ARSI1; 4) NC diet containing ARSI2; 5) NC diet containing prebiotics; 6) PC diet containing ARSI1; 7) PC diet containing ARSI2; 8) PC diet containing prebiotics; 9) PC diet containing ARSI1+prebiotics; and 10) PC diet containing ARSI2+prebiotics. Growth performance, humoral and cellular immune responses, jejunal morphology and some blood variables were assessed. Results showed that broiler chicks fed with a PC diet showed a higher feed conversion ratio and lower body weight in the grower and finisher periods. Broiler chicks fed with PC diets showed lower immunoglobulin G and M and also cellular immunities compared to the NC diet. The PC group also showed lower values for villus length, villus width and crypt depth, and higher values for liver enzyme activities compared to the PC diet. However, dietary inclusion of prebiotics and CTs, in single and combined form, improved growth performance in grower and finisher periods, cellular and humoral immunities, intestinal morphology and the serum concentration of triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose and liver enzyme activities of broiler chicks fed with aflatoxin.Keywords: Aflatoxin, ASRI1 toxin binder, broiler chicks, growth performance, humoral immunit

Battle of the Attack Detection Algorithms:Disclosing cyber attacks on water distribution networks

The BATtle of the Attack Detection ALgorithms (BATADAL) is the most recent competition on planning and management of water networks undertaken within the Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium. The goal of the battle was to compare the performance of algorithms for the detection of cyber-physical attacks, whose frequency increased in the past few years along with the adoption of smart water technologies. The design challenge was set for C-Town network, a real-world, medium-sized water distribution system operated through Programmable Logic Controllers and a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. Participants were provided with datasets containing (simulated) SCADA observations, and challenged with the design of an attack detection algorithm. The effectiveness of all submitted algorithms was evaluated in terms of time-to-detection and classification accuracy. Seven teams participated in the battle and proposed a variety of successful approaches leveraging data analysis, model-based detection mechanisms, and rule checking. Results were presented at the Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium (World Environmental & Water Resources Congress), in Sacramento, on May 21-25, 2017. This paper summarizes the BATADAL problem, proposed algorithms, results, and future research directions

Choosing a Commercial Broiler Strain Based on Multicriteria Decision Analysis

With the complexity and amount of information in a wide variety of comparative performance reports in poultry production, making a decision is difficult. This problem is overcomed only when all data can be put into a common unit. For this purpose, five different decision making analysis approaches including  Maximin, Equally likely, Weighted average, Ordered weighted averages and Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution were used to choose the best broiler strain among three ones based on their comparative performance and carcass characteristics. Commercial broiler strains of 6000 designated as R, A, and C (each strain 2000) were randomly allocated into three treatments of five replicates. In this study, all methods showed similar results except Maximin approach. Comparing different methods indicated that strain C with the highest world share market has the best performance followed by strains R and A

Battle of the Attack Detection Algorithms:Disclosing cyber attacks on water distribution networks

The BATtle of the Attack Detection ALgorithms (BATADAL) is the most recent competition on planning and management of water networks undertaken within the Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium. The goal of the battle was to compare the performance of algorithms for the detection of cyber-physical attacks, whose frequency has increased in the last few years along with the adoption of smart water technologies. The design challenge was set for the C-Town network, a real-world, medium-sized water distribution system operated through programmable logic controllers and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Participants were provided with data sets containing (simulated) SCADA observations, and challenged to design an attack detection algorithm. The effectiveness of all submitted algorithms was evaluated in terms of time-to-detection and classification accuracy. Seven teams participated in the battle and proposed a variety of successful approaches leveraging data analysis, model-based detection mechanisms, and rule checking. Results were presented at the Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium (World Environmental and Water Resources Congress) in Sacramento, California on May 21-25, 2017. This paper summarizes the BATADAL problem, proposed algorithms, results, and future research directions.</p

Battle of the Attack Detection Algorithms: Disclosing cyber attacks on water distribution networks

The BATtle of the Attack Detection ALgorithms (BATADAL) is the most recent competition on planning and management of water networks undertaken within the Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium. The goal of the battle was to compare the performance of algorithms for the detection of cyber-physical attacks, whose frequency has increased in the last few years along with the adoption of smart water technologies. The design challenge was set for the C-Town network, a real-world, medium-sized water distribution system operated through programmable logic controllers and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Participants were provided with data sets containing (simulated) SCADA observations, and challenged to design an attack detection algorithm. The effectiveness of all submitted algorithms was evaluated in terms of time-to-detection and classification accuracy. Seven teams participated in the battle and proposed a variety of successful approaches leveraging data analysis, model-based detection mechanisms, and rule checking. Results were presented at the Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium (World Environmental and Water Resources Congress) in Sacramento, California on May 21-25, 2017. This paper summarizes the BATADAL problem, proposed algorithms, results, and future research directions