Corn particle size and pelleting influence on growth performance, fecal shedding, and lymph node infection rates of salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium

Ninety-six pigs (initially 13.8 lb.) were used in a 28-d trial to determine the interactive effects between pelleting and particle size on Salmonella serovar Typhimurium shedding and colonization in a young growing pig model. The experiment was a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement consisting of meal or pelleted diets with fine or coarse ground corn. Pigs were fed the diets 1 wk pre-salmonella inoculation and allotted based on weight to one of four dietary treatments. For the main effect of particle size, pigs fed finer ground corn had significantly improved feed efficiency (P0.82). There was no difference in salmonella infection rates of mesenteric lymph nodes obtained on d 28 between treatments or main effects. Finer grinding and meal diets generally improved growth, feed intake, and feed efficiency compared to pigs fed coarser ground or pelleted feeds. However, particle size or diet form did not alter fecal shedding or mesenteric lymph node infection rates of salmonella organisms in our study

Effects of paylean (ractopamine⋅HCl) on finishing pig growth and variation

A total of 336 pigs were used in a 21-day trial to determine the effect of Paylean (9.0 g/ton Ractopamine·HCl) on finishing pig growth and variation. Pigs were allotted based on weight so that all pens had the same initial weight and degree of variation within the pen. Pigs fed Paylean had greater ADG and better feed efficiency than control-fed pigs (P<0.05). However, no differences in pen coefficient of variation were observed (P>0.70). The results suggest that adding Paylean to the diet improves finishing pig growth performance but does not affect weight variation within the pen

Radiative Corrections to Double Dalitz Decays: Effects on Invariant Mass Distributions and Angular Correlations

We review the theory of meson decays to two lepton pairs, including the cases of identical as well as non-identical leptons, as well as CP-conserving and CP-violating couplings. A complete lowest-order calculation of QED radiative corrections to these decays is discussed, and comparisons of predicted rates and kinematic distributions between tree-level and one-loop-corrected calculations are presented for both pi-zero and K-zero decays.Comment: 25 pages, 18 figures, added figures and commentar

A Simple Model of Liquid-liquid Phase Transitions

In recent years, a second fluid-fluid phase transition has been reported in several materials at pressures far above the usual liquid-gas phase transition. In this paper, we introduce a new model of this behavior based on the Lennard-Jones interaction with a modification to mimic the different kinds of short-range orientational order in complex materials. We have done Monte Carlo studies of this model that clearly demonstrate the existence of a second first-order fluid-fluid phase transition between high- and low-density liquid phases

Risks, alternative knowledge strategies and democratic legitimacy: the conflict over co-incineration of hazardous industrial waste in Portugal.

The decision to incinerate hazardous industrial waste in cement plants (the socalled ‘co-incineration’ process) gave rise to one of the most heated environmental conflicts ever to take place in Portugal. The bitterest period was between 1997 and 2002, after the government had made a decision. Strong protests by residents, environmental organizations, opposition parties, and some members of the scientific community forced the government to backtrack and to seek scientific legitimacy for the process through scientific expertise. The experts ratified the government’s decision, stating that the risks involved were socially acceptable. The conflict persisted over a decade and ended up clearing the way for a more sustainable method over which there was broad social consensus – a multifunctional method which makes it possible to treat, recover and regenerate most wastes. Focusing the analysis on this conflict, this paper has three aims: (1) to discuss the implications of the fact that expertise was ‘confiscated’ after the government had committed itself to the decision to implement co-incineration and by way of a reaction to the atmosphere of tension and protest; (2) to analyse the uses of the notions of ‘risk’ and ‘uncertainty’ in scientific reports from both experts and counter-experts’ committees, and their different assumptions about controllability and criteria for considering certain practices to be sufficiently safe for the public; and (3) to show how the existence of different technical scientific and political attitudes (one more closely tied to government and the corporate interests of the cement plants, the other closer to the environmental values of reuse and recycling and respect for the risk perception of residents who challenged the facilities) is closely bound up with problems of democratic legitimacy. This conflict showed how adopting more sustainable and lower-risk policies implies a broader view of democratic legitimacy, one which involves both civic movements and citizens themselves

Transport properties of dense fluid argon

We calculate using molecular dynamics simulations the transport properties of realistically modeled fluid argon at pressures up to $\simeq 50GPa$ and temperatures up to $3000K$. In this context we provide a critique of some newer theoretical predictions for the diffusion coefficients of liquids and a discussion of the Enskog theory relevance under two different adaptations: modified Enskog theory (MET) and effective diameter Enskog theory. We also analyze a number of experimental data for the thermal conductivity of monoatomic and small diatomic dense fluids.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Evaluation of different soy protein concentrate sources on growth performance of weanling pigs

Three experiments were conducted using 486 weanling pigs (216 in Experiment 1; 210 in Experiment 2; 60 in Experiment 3) to determine the effects of different soy protein concentrate (SPC) sources on growth performance. Soy protein concentrate source 1 is dried with a torus disk following the concentration of soy proteins. This drying procedure will generate some degree of heat and possibly mechanical forces somewhat similar to extrusion processing (Soycomil P®, ADM). Soy protein concentrate source 2 is dried by a different process, and then it is moist extruded (Profine E, Central Soya). Therefore, the objective of our study was to determine the relative feeding value of the different SPC sources compared with a complex diet containing milk and other specialty proteins (no soy protein), or a diet containing 40% soybean meal. In Experiment 1, each SPC source (28.6%) replaced all the soybean meal (SBM) in the control diet on a lysine basis. Pigs fed the diet containing 40% SBM had similar performance to pigs fed the milk-protein based diet from d 0 to 14. Pigs fed either SPC source had lower ADG and ADFI compared to pigs fed either the diet containing 40% SBM or the milkprotein based diet. Pigs fed the diet containing 40% SBM and SPC from source 2 had better F/G than pigs fed the milk-protein based diet or SPC from source 1. In Experiment 2, either all or half of the soybean meal was replaced by the 28.6 or 14.3% SPC from source 1 and 2. From d 0 to 14 and d 0 to 28, an SPC source by level interaction was observed for ADG (P<0.01) and ADFI (P<0.07). Replacing soybean meal with SPC from source 1 did not influence pig performance. However, replacing soybean meal with SPC from source 2 resulted in a quadratic (P<0.05) improvement in ADG with performance being improved for the diet containing 14.3% SPC, but no benefit to replacing all the soybean meal with SPC. Replacing soybean meal with SPC from either source influenced feed efficiency in a quadratic (P<0.01) manner with feed efficiency being optimal for pigs consuming the diet with half the soybean meal replaced by SPC. Because replacing all of the soybean meal with SPC reduced ADFI in Experiments 1 and 2, we hypothesized that pigs may not prefer the taste of a diet with a high inclusion rate of SPC (28.6%). To test this theory, a 7-day preference test was conducted to determine feed intake of weanling pigs provided the option of consuming diets containing either 40% soybean meal or 28.6% SPC (from source 2). Average daily feed intake was 0.41 and 0.01 lb for the 40% soybean meal and 28.6% soy protein concentrate diets, respectively (P<0.0001). The poor intake of the SPC diet may indicate a palatability problem when high levels of SPC are included in the diet. Our results suggest replacing a portion of the soybean meal in the diet with SPC from source 2 improves ADG and feed efficiency; however, high levels (28.6%) of SPC should not be included in the diet

Surface and capillary transitions in an associating binary mixture model

We investigate the phase diagram of a two-component associating fluid mixture in the presence of selectively adsorbing substrates. The mixture is characterized by a bulk phase diagram which displays peculiar features such as closed loops of immiscibility. The presence of the substrates may interfere the physical mechanism involved in the appearance of these phase diagrams, leading to an enhanced tendency to phase separate below the lower critical solution point. Three different cases are considered: a planar solid surface in contact with a bulk fluid, while the other two represent two models of porous systems, namely a slit and an array on infinitely long parallel cylinders. We confirm that surface transitions, as well as capillary transitions for a large area/volume ratio, are stabilized in the one-phase region. Applicability of our results to experiments reported in the literature is discussed.Comment: 12 two-column pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review E; corrected versio

Phenomenology of the Lense-Thirring effect in the Solar System

Recent years have seen increasing efforts to directly measure some aspects of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic interaction in several astronomical scenarios in the solar system. After briefly overviewing the concept of gravitomagnetism from a theoretical point of view, we review the performed or proposed attempts to detect the Lense-Thirring effect affecting the orbital motions of natural and artificial bodies in the gravitational fields of the Sun, Earth, Mars and Jupiter. In particular, we will focus on the evaluation of the impact of several sources of systematic uncertainties of dynamical origin to realistically elucidate the present and future perspectives in directly measuring such an elusive relativistic effect.Comment: LaTex, 51 pages, 14 figures, 22 tables. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Science (ApSS). Some uncited references in the text now correctly quoted. One reference added. A footnote adde

Computational studies into urea formation in the interstellar medium

Formation routes, involving closed shell, radical, and charged species for urea, have been studied using computational methods to probe their feasibility in the interstellar medium. All reactions involving closed shell species were found to have prohibitive barriers. The radical–radical reaction possesses a barrier of only 4 kJ mol−1, which could be surmountable. A charged species based route was also investigated. A barrier of only 8 kJ mol−1 was found in that case, when a partial water ice shell was included