100% Organic Feed for Poultry – Results of Feed Trials in the UK

Current regulations for organic monogastric production systems permit feed ingredients of non-organic origin, primarily due to concerns about meeting the demand for the essential amino acids methionine and lysine. However, 100 % organic diets will become compulsory in the EU from 1st January 2015, so there is a need to develop feeds which will supply the required level of nutrients and support high animal health and welfare. This paper reports on feeding trials carried out with broilers in the UK to investigate the impact of three 100 % organic diets: a control diet with globally sourced ingredients, a diet based on locally sourced (i.e. within Europe) organic ingredients, and a diet based on locally sourced organic ingredients and algae. The results of the summer and winter trials showed that there was no significant difference in bird weights between the three diets, indicating that using locally sourced and locally sourced with algae feeds do not impact on broiler productivity

Solution-processed CdS transistors with high electron mobility

Solution-processed CdS field effect transistors (FETs) and solar cells are demonstrated via spin-coating and thermal annealing of soluble cadmium thiolate compounds. The synthesis is carried out in one simple step using cadmium oxide and tertiary alkane thiols. The cadmium thiolates are soluble in organic solvents such as chloroform and may be spin-coated, like organic semiconductors, to form thin films. The cadmium thiolate films decompose rapidly at 300 ??C to yield semiconducting cadmium sulfide films. FETs are easily fabricated using these films and exhibit electron mobilities of up to 61 cm2 V -1 s-1, which compare favourably to FETs prepared from other solution-processed materials such as organic semiconductors, inorganic nanoparticles or chalcogenide films. Initial attempts to prepare hybrid bilayer solar cells were successfully realized by spin-coating a p-type semiconducting polymer layer on top of the n-type CdS film. These devices show significant photocurrent response from both the CdS and polymer layers, indicating that the CdS films are able to participate in photo-induced electron transfer from the polymer to the CdS layer as well as photo-induced hole transfer from CdS to the polymer layer.close2

High mobility solution-processed hybrid light emitting transistors

We report the design, fabrication, and characterization of high-performance, solution-processed hybrid (inorganic-organic) light emitting transistors (HLETs). The devices employ a high-mobility, solution-processed cadmium sulfide layer as the switching and transport layer, with a conjugated polymer Super Yellow as an emissive material in non-planar source/drain transistor geometry. We demonstrate HLETs with electron mobilities of up to 19.5 cm2/V s, current on/off ratios of >107, and external quantum efficiency of 10-2% at 2100 cd/m2. These combined optical and electrical performance exceed those reported to date for HLETs. Furthermore, we provide full analysis of charge injection, charge transport, and recombination mechanism of the HLETs. The high brightness coupled with a high on/off ratio and low-cost solution processing makes this type of hybrid device attractive from a manufacturing perspective.open0

The efficacy of DNA mixture to mixture matching

Crown Copyright © 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (March 2019) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyStandard practice in forensic science is to compare a person of interest’s (POI) reference DNA profile with an evidence DNA profile and calculate a likelihood ratio that considers propositions including and excluding the POI as a DNA donor. A method has recently been published that provides the ability to compare two evidence profiles (of any number of contributors and of any level of resolution) comparing propositions that consider the profiles either have a common contributor, or do not have any common contributors. Using this method, forensic analysts can provide intelligence to law enforcement by linking crime scenes when no suspects may be available. The method could also be used as a quality assurance measure to identify potential sample to sample contamination. In this work we analyse a number of constructed mixtures, ranging from two to five contributors, and with known numbers of common contributors, in order to investigate the performance of using likelihood ratios for mixture to mixture comparisons. Our findings demonstrate the ability to identify common donors in DNA mixtures with the power of discrimination depending largely on the least informative mixture of the pair being considered. The ability to match mixtures to mixtures may provide intelligence information to investigators by identifying possible links between cases which otherwise may not have been considered connected

Pendant group effects on the optical and electrical properties of carbazole-diketopyrrolopyrrole copolymers

Two kinds of novel carbazole and diketopyrrolopyrrole based conjugated copolymers, poly[N-9'-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(3,6-dithien-2-yl-2,5-bis(2-ethylhexyl)pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-dione)] (P1) and poly[N-9'-(3,5-bis(octyloxy) phenyl)-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(3,6-dithien-2-yl-2,5-bis(2-ethylhexyl)pyrrolo[3,4-c] pyrrole-1,4-dione)] (P2), were synthesized via a Suzuki cross coupling reaction. The optical and electrical properties of these polymers, in which the pendent groups on the carbazole moiety were modified, were investigated. Aryl substituted P2 shows a narrower band gap (1.61 eV), higher hole mobility (4.4 x 10(-3) cm(2) V-1 s(-1)) and more planar backbone structure than alkyl substituted P1. The modification of side groups significantly affected their surface morphologies. The device performance of solar cells based on these polymers and a fullerene acceptor was characterized.close3

The effect of varying the number of contributors in the prosecution and alternate propositions

This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (November 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyUsing a simplified model, we examine the effect of varying the number of contributors in the prosecution and alternate propositions for a number of simulated examples. We compare the Slooten and Caliebe [1] solution, with several existing practices. Our own experience is that most laboratories, and ourselves, assign the number of contributors, N = n, by allele count and a manual examination of peak heights. The LRn for one or a very few values is calculated and typically one of these is presented, usually the most conservative. This gives an acceptable approximation. Reassessing the number of contributors if LR = 0 and adding one to N under both Hp and Ha to “fit” the POI may lead to a substantial overstatement of the LR. A more reasonable option is to allow optimisation of the assignment under Hp and Ha separately. We show that an additional contributor explained the single locus profile better when PHR≥0.51. This is pleasingly in line with current interpretation approaches. Collectively these trials, and the solid theoretical development, suggest that the Slooten and Caliebe approach preforms well.This work was supported in part by grant 2017-DN-BX-K541 from the US National Institute of Justice

A fully continuous system of DNA profile evidence evaluation that can utilise STR profile data produced under different conditions within a single analysis

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The introduction of probabilistic DNA interpretation systems has made it possible to evaluate many profiles that previously (under a manual interpretation system) were not. These probabilistic systems have been around for a number of years and it is becoming more common that their use within a laboratory has spanned at least one technology change. This may be a change in laboratory hardware, the DNA profiling kit used, or the manner in which the profile is generated. Up until this point, when replicates DNA profiles are generated, that span a technological change, the ability to utilise all the information in all replicates has been limited or non-existent. In this work we explain and derive the models required to evaluate (what we term) multi-kit analysis problems. We demonstrate the use of the multi-kit feature on a number of scenarios where such an analysis would be desired within a laboratory. Allowing the combination of profiling data that spans a technological change will further increase the amount of DNA profile information produced in a laboratory that can be evaluated

Inter-sample contamination detection using mixture deconvolution comparison

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (February 2019) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyA recent publication has provided the ability to compare two mixed DNA profiles and consider their probability of occurrence if they do, compared to if they do not, have a common contributor. This ability has applications to both quality assurance (to test for sample to sample contamination) and for intelligence gathering purposes (did the same unknown offender donate DNA to multiple samples). We use a mixture to mixture comparison tool to investigate the prevalence of sample to sample contamination that could occur from two laboratory mechanisms, one during DNA extraction and one during electrophoresis. By carrying out pairwise comparisons of all samples (deconvoluted using probabilistic genotyping software STRmix™) within extraction or run batches we identify any potential common DNA donors and investigate these with respect to their risk of contamination from the two proposed mechanisms. While not identifying any contamination, we inadvertently find a potential intelligence link between samples, showing the use of a mixture to mixture comparison tool for investigative purposes