A Non-Deterministic Approach to Restructuring Flow Graphs

The history of programming is filled with works about the properties of program flow graphs. There are many approaches to defining the quality of such graphs, and to improving a given flow graph by restructuring the underlying source code. We present here a new, twofold approach to restructuring the control flow of arbitrary source code. The first part of the method is a classical deterministic algorithm; the second part is non-deterministic and involves user interaction. The method is based on node splitting, enabling it to satisfy the definition of the extended Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams

An Approach for Distributed Query Processing in Marvel: Concepts and Implementation

This work displays an approach for the query processing of Marvel rules upon a distributed Marvel object base. Rules and rest rules run simultaneously on different subenvironments, synchronized by a coordinating subenvironment. Instead of transmitting objects, the showed method transmits images. The concept of lazy calling is introduced

A Repository for a CARE Environment

Repositories in CASE hold information about the development process and the structure of developing software. The migration or reuse of CASE repositories for CARE (Computer Aided Re-Engineering) is not adequate for the reengineering process. The main reasons for its inadequacy are the emptiness of such repositories and the nature of the process itself. In the following report we will define a CARE architecture, from the reengineering point of view, and derive a structure of a repository appropriate to the reengineering process

Pengaruh Cognitive Behavior Therapy Terhadap Penurunan Tingkat Kekambuhan Halusinasi Dengar

Halusinasi adalah merasakan segala sesuatu dalam keadaan sadar yang tampak nyata, namun sebenarnya hanya diciptakan oleh persepsi pikiran sendiri. Pasien dengan halusinasi pendengaran jika tidak segera ditangani akan berakibat kehilangan kontrol seperti bunuh diri, membunuh, bahkan merusak lingkungan. Terapi keperawatan yang direkomendasikan adalah Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Adapun tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh CBT terhadap penurunan tingkat kekambuhan halusinasi dengar. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain one group pre test post test dengan jumlah sampel sebanyak 63 orang dengan menggunakan teknik sampling purposive. Instrumen untuk mengumpulkan data menggunakan instrumen Psychotic Syndrome Rating Scale. Data dianalisis dengan uji paired-t. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian diatas dapat disimpulkan pemberian terapi CBT memberi pengaruh yang signifikan secara statistik terhadap tingkat kekambuhan halusinasi pada pasien dengan halusinasi dengar dengan nilai signifikansi sebesar 0,000

IGF-1 Concentration at a Young Age is Associated with Feed Efficiency in Pigs

The concentration of IGF-I in blood of young pigs has previously been found to be genetically associated with feed efficiency and performance in pigs. To test these associations, data from the ISU selection line for residual feed intake (RFI) were used. Compared to controls, in the line selected for increased efficiency through reduced RFI, a correlated response in the expected downwards direction was observed for juvenile IGF-I. Genetic correlations of IGF-I were 0.63 with RFI and 0.78 with feed conversion ratio. These results confirm that juvenile IGF-I is a good physiological indicator of genetic merit for economically important efficiency traits, particularly since it is measured early in an animal’s life

Genomic Analysis of Juvenile Serum IGF-I Concentration in Yorkshire Pigs Selected for Residual Feed Intake

Feed efficiency and related production traits continue to be of high interest in the swine industry as feed prices continue to rise. Two lines of Yorkshire pigs have been developed at Iowa State University to study the causes and effects of increased feed efficiency. The goal of this project was to use these lines to evaluate the genetic basis of juvenile serum IGF-I concentration, which has been shownto be an early indicator of genetic potential for feed efficiency later in life

Juvenile IGF-I: An Early Bio-marker for Feed Efficiency in Pigs

At Iowa State University, purebred Yorkshire pigs have been divergently selected for increased and decreased feed efficiency based on residual feed intake for ten generations. In this study, juvenile IGF-I serum concentrations were measured in these divergently selected lines, with the goal of validating juvenile IGF-I as an early blood bio-marker to help select young piglets for later feed efficiency performance. Previous findings (Bunter et al., 2002, 2005, 2010) and this validation study support that lower juvenile IGF-I concentration in piglets is genetically correlated with increased grow-finish feed efficiency. IGF-I concentration is a moderately heritable trait that is more cost and time effective to measure than feed intake and feed efficiency. These characteristics make IGF-I a useful bio-marker for feed efficiency in swine

Traits Defining Sow Lifetime Maternal Performance

Declining sow performance with increasing parity or an increase in the number of poor- quality pigs potentially impacts on farm productivity. This study investigated the phenotypic and genetic background of the sow's influence on (i) the number of pigs not meeting the industry standards (tail-enders) and (ii) changes in performance with parity. Data were available for 3592 sows and their litters (13,976 litters) from a pig production system in NSW, Australia. The mean, standard deviation (SD), and slope for trait values over time were estimated for the sow characteristic traits: number of born-alive (NBA) and stillborn (SB) piglets and body condition of sow recorded with a caliper (CAL), along with maternal effects on piglet performance, represented by: average piglet birth weight (APBW), number of weaned piglets (WEAN), and tail-enders (TEND). Traits were analyzed in ASReml 4.2, by using an animal model. The number of tail-enders produced by a sow is a heritable trait, with a heritability estimate of 0.14 ± 0.04. Sow characteristics and maternal effects on piglet performance expressed by mean and slope had similar heritability estimates, ranging from 0.10 ± 0.03 to 0.38 ± 0.05, whereas estimates for SD traits were generally not different from zero. The latter suggests individual variability in sow characteristics or maternal performance between parities is largely not genetic in origin. This study demonstrated that more attention is required to identify contributions to the problem of tail-enders, and that slope traits could potentially be useful in the breeding program to maximize lifetime performance

Feed intake and feeding behavior traits for gestating sows recorded using electronic sow feeders

Electronic sow feeding (ESF) systems are used to control feed delivery to individual sows that are group-housed. Feeding levels for gestating sows are typically restricted to prevent excessive body weight gain. Any alteration of intake from the allocated feeding curve or unusual feeding behavior could indicate potential health issues. The objective of this study was to use data recorded by ESF to establish and characterize novel feed intake and feeding behavior traits and to estimate their heritabilities. Raw data were available from two farms with in-house manufactured (Farm A) or commercial (Farm B) ESF. The traits derived included feed intake, time spent eating, and rate of feed consumption, averaged across or within specific time periods of gestation. Additional phenotypes included average daily number of feeding events (AFE), along with the cumulative numbers of days where sows spent longer than 30 min in the ESF (ABOVE30), missed their daily intake (MISSF), or consumed below 1 kg of feed (BELOW1). The appetite of sows was represented by averages of score (APPETITE), a binary value for allocation eaten or not (DA_bin), or the standard deviation of the difference between feed intake and allocation (SDA-I). Gilts took longer to eat than sows (15.5 ± 0.13 vs. 14.1 ± 0.11 min/d) despite a lower feed allocation (2.13 ± 0.00 vs. 2.36 ± 0.01 kg/d). The lowest heritability estimates (below 0.10) occurred for feed intake traits, due to the restriction in feed allocation, although heritabilities were slightly higher for Farm B, with restriction in the eating time. The low heritability for AFE (0.05 ± 0.02) may have reflected the lack of recording of nonfeeding visits, but repeatability was moderate (0.26 ± 0.03, Farm A). Time-related traits were moderately to highly heritable and repeatable, demonstrating genetic variation between individuals in their feeding behaviors. Heritabilities for BELOW1 (Farm A: 0.16 ± 0.04 and Farm B: 0.15 ± 0.09) and SDA-I (Farm A: 0.17 ± 0.04 and Farm B: 0.10 ± 0.08) were similar across farms. In contrast, MISSF was moderately heritable in Farm A (0.19 ± 0.04) but lowly heritable in Farm B (0.05 ± 0.07). Heritabilities for DA_bin were dissimilar between farms (Farm A: 0.02 ± 0.02 and Farm B: 0.23 ± 0.10) despite similar incidence. Individual phenotypes constructed from ESF data could be useful for genetic evaluation purposes, but equivalent capabilities to generate phenotypes were not available for both ESF systems

Improving sow welfare and outcomes in the farrowing house by identifying early indicators from pre-farrowing assessment

Poor outcomes reflect low performance during the farrowing and lactation periods and unanticipated sow removals. Since the period around farrowing has the highest risk for sow health issues, monitoring of sows in that time-period will improve both welfare and productivity. The aim of this study was to identify the most relevant risk factors for predicting poor outcomes and the implication for sow welfare. Identifying these factors could potentially enable management interventions to decrease incidences of compromised welfare or poor performance. Data from 1,103 sows sourced from two nucleus herds were recorded for a range of variables investigated as potential predictors of poor outcomes in the farrowing house. Poor outcomes (scored as binary traits) reflected three categories in a sow's lifecycle: farrowing, lactation, and removals. Univariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors in the first instance. Predictors from univariate analyses were subsequently considered together in multi-variate models. The least square means representing predicted probabilities of poor outcomes were then reported on the observed scale. Several predictors were significant across two different environments (farms) and for all three categories. These predictors included feed refusal (lack of appetite), crate fit, locomotion score, and respiration rate. Normal appetite compared to feed refusals reduced the risk of farrowing failure (13.5 vs. 22.2%, P = 0.025) and removals (10.4 vs. 20.4%, P P P = 0.025) and reduced piglet mortality (P P P = 0.014). Sows with higher respiration rates had a significantly (