Influence of dietary lysine on growth performance of high-lean growth gilts fed from 160 to 300 lb

One-hundred eight high-lean growth gilts (159.6 lb) were used to determine the dietary lysine requirement to optimize growth performance from 160 to 300 lb. The experiment was designed as a randomized complete block, with initial weight serving as the blocking factor. Six dietary treatments were used, ranging from .44 to .94% digestible lysine (.59 to 1.16% total lysine). Pigs were housed in pens of three, with six replicate pens/treatment. Pig weights and feed disappearance were collected weekly to calculate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed efficiency (F/G). Average daily gain increased from 160 to 230 lb, from 230 to 300 lb, and from 160 to 300 lb. Average daily feed intake was not influenced by dietary treatment. The gilts consumed 6.47, 6.65, and 6.56 lb/day from 160 to 230, from 230 to 300, and from 160 to 300 lb, respectively. Thus, F/G improved linearly from 160 to 230 lb and quadratically from 230 to 300 and from 160 to 300 lb as a function of increased ADG. Lysine intake was increased linearly for all three weight periods as digestible lysine increased in the diet. The data from this experiment suggest that high-lean growth gilts requires at least 26 g/d of lysine from 160 to 230 and from 230 to 300 lb. Thus, matching nutrition with genetics is essential to optimize both rate and efficiency of gain

Self-control interventions for children under age 10 for improving self-control and delinquency and problem behaviors

Self-control improvement programs are intended to serve many purposes, most notably improving self-control. Yet, interventions such as these often aim to reduce delinquency and problem behaviors. However, there is currently no summary statement available regarding whether or not these programs are effective in improving self-control and reducing delinquency and problem behaviors. The main objective of this review is to assess the available research evidence on the effect of self-control improvement programs on self-control and delinquency and problem behaviors. In addition to investigating the overall effect of early selfcontrol improvement programs, this review will examine, to the extent possible, the context in which these programs may be most successful. The studies included in this systematic review indicate that self-control improvement programs are an effective intervention for improving self-control and reducing delinquency and problem behaviors, and that the effect of these programs appears to be rather robust across various weighting procedures, and across context, outcome source, and based on both published and unpublished data

System and chip design for neural and auditory signal processing

Speech recognition and understanding is one of the most difficult tasks to be carried out by machines while it is readily performed by humans. Although modern electronic and computer engineering has greatly advanced in recent years, construction of a perfect electronic speech recognition system, i.e. inexpensive, fast, speaker-independent, capable of handling continuous speech, and exhibiting high recognition rate still eludes our endeavour. In this communication we describe an effort to build an advanced speech recognition system that combines the most recent progress in psychoacoustics, auditory perception, neural networks, and silicon technologies

Effects of application of water and nitrogen on nutrient use from corn and sorghums by pigs

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of growing conditions on nutrient yield and quality of corn and sorghum. Main effect treatments were: corn (C), bronze pericarp heterozygous-yellow endosperm sorghum (BS), and yellow pericarp homozygous-yellow endosperm sorghum (YS); optimal irrigation (I) and minimal irrigation (MI); 100 lb/acre of N fertilization (F) and no N fertilization (NF), in a 3 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Grains were grown in 1988 (Year 1, with little rainfall) and 1989 (Year 2, with above average rainfall) in the semi-arid environment at Garden City, KS. In Year 1, sorghums yielded 15% more grain than C, and YS yielded 1.2% more grain than BS. Irrigation increased yield by 90%, and N application increased yield by 7%. In year 2, C yielded 11% more grain than the sorghums. In the pig metabolism study, C had greater nitrogen digestibility (ND) than sorghums in both years, greater biological value (BV) and nitrogen retention in Year 2, but lower BV in Year 1. Yellow sorghum had greater ND than BS in Year 1. Corn had increased cost per unit of utilizable nitrogen (CUN) and utilizable energy (CUE) and reduced utilizable nitrogen per inch of available water (UNW) and utilizable energy per inch of available water (UEW) for both years compared to BS and YS. In conclusion, optimally irrigated grains had higher nutritional value than minimally irrigated grains, and growing the grains under varying agronomic conditions did affect their nutritional quality

A parallel DSP-based neural network emulator with CMOS VLSI paket switching hardware.

This work describes a parallel neural network emulator which uses standard DSPs and application-specific VLSI communication processors with an integrated hardware routing algorithm. The use of DSPs as programmable processing elements enables the emulation of different types of neurons including biologically inspired models with learnable synaptic weights and delays, variable neuron gain, and static and dynamic thresholding. Locally interconnected communication processors attached to each DSP can span up a 2D- or 3D-computing grid and thus form a highly parallel network topology capable of global packet switching routing

Selection for increased in vitro digestibility improves feeding value of sorghum grain

Six cannulated barrows and two hundred eighty-eight chicks were used in an experiment to determine the value of an in vitro protein digestibility assay (pepsin digest) for identification of sorghum parent Iines with improved nutritional value. The barrows were used to determine digestibility of the experimental sorghums at the terminal ileum and for the total digestive tract. Due to a limited supply of the sorghums, broiler chicks were used as a model to predict the value of the experimental sorghums for growth performance. Four sorghum parent lines were selected from 100 SI families grown at several locations in Kansas. Two of the sorghums were consistently low and two were consistently high for in vitro digestibility. Treatments were: 1) corn-soybean meal control; 2) and 3) low digestibility sorghums (LDI and LD2); 4) and 5) high digestibility sorghums (HDI and HD2); and 6) pearl millet (PM). The sorghums that had consistently high in vitro digestibility were of greater nutritional value to pigs and growing chicks than sorghums with low in vitro digestibility. In the pig experiment, digestibility of N at the terminal ileum ranged from 69.6% for LDI to 79.0% for HDl, compared to 81.6% for the corn-based control. Similar responses were noted for digestibility of gross energy, with values of 71.8% and 77.0% for LDI and HDl, compared to 80.2% for the corn-based control. The HD lines were equal or nearly equal to corn in the chick growth assay, with efficiencies of gain that were 98 and 100% that of corn for HD1 and HD2, respectively. Pearl millet was of greater feeding value than sorghums for chicks but less digestible than sorghums in pigs. These data suggest that in vitro pepsin digestibility can be a valuable tool for sorghum breeders to select parent lines with improved feeding value