Effects of forage supplements on milk production and chemical properties, in vivo digestibility, rumen fermentation and N excretion in dairy cows offered red clover silage and corn silage or dry ground corn

peer-reviewedThis study concerned the effects of partial substitution of clover silage with high starch forages on milk production and chemical composition, in vivo digestibility, rumen fermentation pattern and nitrogen excretion of dairy cows. Sixteen dairy cows were separated into two groups and were assigned to treatments in a two-period crossover design. Two forage supplements were used: corn silage (CS) and dry ground corn (DG). All animals received 4.5 kg of concentrate dry matter per day. Results showed no significant difference between the forage supplements for milk production, while significant differences (P<0.01) were observed for milk fat, milk protein and nitrogen utilisation efficiency (42 v. 4.0 g/kg, 3.5 v. 3.3 g/kg and 222 v. 188 g/kg, respectively, for DG and CS). Faecal N excretion did not differ between forage supplements, but urinary N excretion was higher for CS (P<0.05). No significant differences were observed between treatments for rumen fluid pH or for rumen fluid concentrations of ammonium nitrogen or of acetic, propionic or butyric acids. Dry matter intake and the in vivo digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre were all higher for CS compared with DG.The authors are grateful to the Environmental Office of the Cantabrian Government for funding the project 05-640.02-2174

An Analysis of Policies and Practices for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Public Universities in Mexico

The purpose of this study was to analyze the laws and regulations regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities in selected Mexican universities. Seven public autonomous universities on the northern border of Mexico were selected for participation. Official documents were reviewed and administrators were surveyed to determine the extent to which federal legislation requiring inclusion was implemented at their respective institutions. Faculty members of psychology were also surveyed regarding the guarantees and accommodations provided by their institutions and the effectiveness of those efforts. Principal findings were that the commitment to serve students with disabilities was high, however the existing plans and efforts were insufficient to accomplish the goal of inclusion and to provide the necessary accommodations. Administrators ranked institutional efforts higher than faculty members. Of particular note was the lack of clear diagnostic criteria, inadequate faculty and staff training, lack of information on best practices, and limited financial resources. Recommendations were provided that included greater centralization of services and an increase in financial resources

Of mice, birds, and men: the mouse ultrasonic song system has some features similar to humans and song-learning birds.

Humans and song-learning birds communicate acoustically using learned vocalizations. The characteristic features of this social communication behavior include vocal control by forebrain motor areas, a direct cortical projection to brainstem vocal motor neurons, and dependence on auditory feedback to develop and maintain learned vocalizations. These features have so far not been found in closely related primate and avian species that do not learn vocalizations. Male mice produce courtship ultrasonic vocalizations with acoustic features similar to songs of song-learning birds. However, it is assumed that mice lack a forebrain system for vocal modification and that their ultrasonic vocalizations are innate. Here we investigated the mouse song system and discovered that it includes a motor cortex region active during singing, that projects directly to brainstem vocal motor neurons and is necessary for keeping song more stereotyped and on pitch. We also discovered that male mice depend on auditory feedback to maintain some ultrasonic song features, and that sub-strains with differences in their songs can match each other's pitch when cross-housed under competitive social conditions. We conclude that male mice have some limited vocal modification abilities with at least some neuroanatomical features thought to be unique to humans and song-learning birds. To explain our findings, we propose a continuum hypothesis of vocal learning

Anticorrelation between Ion Acceleration and Nonlinear Coherent Structures from Laser-Underdense Plasma Interaction

In laser-plasma experiments, we observed that ion acceleration from the Coulomb explosion of the plasma channel bored by the laser, is prevented when multiple plasma instabilities such as filamentation and hosing, and nonlinear coherent structures (vortices/post-solitons) appear in the wake of an ultrashort laser pulse. The tailoring of the longitudinal plasma density ramp allows us to control the onset of these insabilities. We deduced that the laser pulse is depleted into these structures in our conditions, when a plasma at about 10% of the critical density exhibits a gradient on the order of 250 {\mu}m (gaussian fit), thus hindering the acceleration. A promising experimental setup with a long pulse is demonstrated enabling the excitation of an isolated coherent structure for polarimetric measurements and, in further perspectives, parametric studies of ion plasma acceleration efficiency.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Steel profiles for repairing deteriorated timber beam ends

Se describe un procedimiento para la consolidación de viguetas de forjado de madera con deterioro en las cabezas mediante perfiles de acero conectados a la madera desde la cara superior del forjado. La pieza de refuerzo es un perfil en U de acero S275 conformado en frío con pletinas soldadas insertadas en la madera y conectada mediante tirafondos. Se ensayaron 30 piezas a flexión obteniendo la rigidez y la capacidad de carga. Las probetas se dividieron en tres grupos. El primero compuesto por 10 piezas de madera laminada encolada de abeto con una sección de 180 x 200 mm y una longitud de 4.000 mm; el segundo consistía en 10 piezas de madera aserrada de pino silvestre con la misma sección y longitud y, el tercero, estaba formado por otras 10 piezas de madera del género Pinus con una sección de 130 x 150 mm y 3.000 mm de longitud, procedentes de un edificio de Madrid con 120 años de antigüedad. Cada grupo de 10 piezas se dividió a su vez en dos grupos de 5 piezas. El primer subgrupo estaba formado por las piezas completas de madera y constituía el grupo de referencia. Las piezas del segundo subgrupo tenían una longitud inferior que se salvaba con una extensión del refuerzo metálico. Los resultados indican que el sistema de refuerzo metálico permite resolver los problemas de falta de apoyo de la vigueta por deterioro de la madera que afecte en una longitud limitada (aproximadamente entre el 10 y el 20% de la longitud)

Pediatric ocular rosacea, a misdiagnosed disease with high morbidity: Proposed diagnostic criteria

Ocular rosacea is an important and underdiagnosed chronic inflammatory disorder observed in children. A clinical spectrum ranging from chronic eyelid inflammation, recurrent ocular redness, photophobia and/or hordeola/chalazions and conjunctival/corneal phlyctenules evolving to neovascularization and scarring may occur. Visual impairment and consequent amblyopia are frequent and corneal perforation although rare is the most feared complication. Ocular manifestations usually precede cutaneous lesions. Although few cases of pediatric ocular rosacea (POR) have been reported in the literature, many cases must have been underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. The delay in diagnosis is greater than one year in the large majority of cases and may lead to serious ocular sequelae. This review aims to highlight the clinical features of POR, its epidemiology, easy diagnosis and effective treatment. We also propose new diagnostic criteria, in which at least three of the five clinical criteria must be present: (1) Chronic or recurrent keratoconjunctivitis and/or red eye and/or photophobia; (2) Chronic or recurrent blepharitis and/or chalazia/ hordeola; (3) Eyelid telangiectasia documented by an ophthalmologist; (4) Primary periorificial dermatitis and/ or primary features of rosacea; and (5) Positive familial history of cutaneous and/or ocular rosacea

Mimicking a robot: Facial EMG in response to emotional robotic facial expressions

Humans tend to anthropomorphize i.e., to attribute human-like characteristics (e.g. motivations, intentions, emotions) to non-humans. This suggests that we can interact with non-humans (televisions, computers, robots) in a similar way we interact with humans. Robots, in particular, have physical presence and can be programmed to display social interaction capabilities, i.e. to be social robots, amplifying those similarities. Past studies have shown that social robots in negative situations tend to elicit strong emotional responses and empathy in humans. However, it remains to be tested whether empathy can be felt towards a social robot, set in a situation of positive social interaction. We proposed that facial mimicry, one indicator of empathy, may occur towards a robot in a positive social context, i.e. while the robot is playing a board game with human opponents. Fifty-nine participants (46 females), aged 17 to 27 years (M=19.56, SD=2.11) were exposed to videos of a robotic head (EMYS, the EMotive headY System), previously programmed to display six emotional expressions (joy, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, sadness) and a neutral expression, while playing a board game. EMYS’s facial expressions were shown in two blocks: in the first, no social context was provided and sound was omitted; in the second, a positive social context was provided, which included sound of verbal interaction with humans. In each block, 14 videos were randomly presented. Facial electromyography (fEMG) activity, in response to EMYS’s facial expressions, was measured over the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles. fEMG responses were calculated as difference from stimulus presentation to 1 sec baseline. Changes in fEMG reactivity, between conditions, were analyzed comparing fEMG responses to robotic emotional expressions with responses to robotic neutral expressions. In the positive social context condition, results revealed an overall reduction of corrugator supercilii reactivity for the majority of negative emotional expressions (except anger). There was also a significant reduction of the zygomaticus major activity to surprise, compared to neutral, in the positive social context. Overall, our results suggest the important role of the social context in our physiological responses to a robot, and more specifically a reduction of emotional negativity to non-threatening robotic facial expressions, displayed in a positive social context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

YOLO — Your own living object

Creativity is at the core of what it means to be human. It is an intrinsic ability that we all have and influences our well-being self-expression throughout life. However, a decline in creativity abilities occurs in children around the age of 7 years old. Our work aims to contribute to a re-balance of creative levels using social robots. In this video, we describe YOLO, an autonomous robotic toy for children that fosters their creativity during play. This robot is envisioned to be used as a character during storytelling, promoting creative story-lines that might not emerge otherwise.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio