Effect of substituting guinea grass with soybean hulls on production performance and digestion traits in fattening rabbits

[EN] The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of soybean hulls (SH) to substitute guinea grass (GG), traditionally used as fibre source in the diets of fattening rabbits on performance, coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of nutrients, gastrointestinal tract development and caecum fermentation. A total of 160 mixed sex Hyla commercial meat rabbits were allocated to 4 experimental groups (40 per treatment) differing in the SH level inclusion in the diet offered to rabbits from 40 to 90 d of age: 0, 50, 100 and 200 g/kg as-fed basis: SH0, SH50, SH100 and SH200 groups, respectively. Growth performance was recorded from 40 to 90 d of age, CTTAD of nutrients from 86 to 90 d of age, and gastrointestinal tract development, caecum fermentation and carcass traits were determined at 90 d of age. Average daily feed intake and the feed/gain ratio were lower in SH100 and SH200 groups than in SH0 group (P0.05). In conclusion, our results suggest that SH can substitute GG in the diets of fattening rabbits up to 200 g/kg in diet with no adverse effects on the growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass traits and meat quality.This study was supported by the earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (CARS-44-B-1).Shang, S.; Wu, Z.; Liu, G.; Sun, C.; Ma, M.; Li, FC. (2017). Effect of substituting guinea grass with soybean hulls on production performance and digestion traits in fattening rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 25(3):241-249. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2017.6654SWORD24124925

B_c meson rare decays in the light-cone quark model

We investigate the rare decays $B_c \rightarrow D_s(1968) \ell \bar{\ell}$ and $B_c\rightarrow D_s^*(2317) \ell \bar{\ell}$ in the framework of the light-cone quark model (LCQM). The transition form factors are calculated in the space-like region and then analytically continued to the time-like region via exponential parametrization. The branching ratios and longitudinal lepton polarization asymmetries (LPAs) for the two decays are given and compared with each other. The results are helpful to investigating the structure of $B_c$ meson and to testing the unitarity of CKM quark mixing matrix. All these results can be tested in the future experiments at the LHC.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, version accepted for publication in EPJ

Un estudio sobre la evaluación de libros didácticos

El libro de texto o libro didáctico ha sido utilizado como un recurso pedagógico que la mayoría de las veces define la secuencia de contenidos que se trabajan en las clases de ciencias. Por esa razón en estos últimos años ha adquirido una  gran importancia el desarrollo de criterios de evaluación de los libros de texto. Uno de los principales objetivos de este trabajo es ofrecer al profesorado un conjunto de criterios que les permita seleccionar el material didáctico que refleje claramente y se adecue al máximo posible a la realidad de su aula. En este trabajo presentamos un análisis comparativo inicial entre los libros de texto de conocimiento del medio de primaria españoles y de ciencias de la enseñanza fundamental brasileños. Inicialmente se diseñó una ficha de evaluación preliminar con 88 ítems, distribuidos en 6 categorías diferentes lo que permitió un análisis preliminar de los libros didácticos de ciencias españoles y brasileños. Se seleccionaron para el estudio los libros de texto más utilizados en los dos países y realizamos un análisis comparativo, basados en los criterios preliminares presentados en la ficha, con la finalidad de determinar el tratamiento que se daba a los contenidos relacionados con la salud. Evaluamos la utilización de la ficha como instrumento de análisis y determinamos un conjunto de criterios que pueden ser usados como indicadores en la evaluación de los contenidos de salud en los libros de texto de ciencias o conocimiento del medio de ambos países. Uno de  los resultados preliminares, nos muestra que la ficha de evaluación, a pesar de su extensión y presentar un amplio número de criterios, no tiene la función de establecer una clara diferenciación entre las obras analizadas. En estos libros se ha podido apreciar de manera clara la influencia de las directrices curriculares nacionales, los Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionales (PCN), en Brasil, y los Diseños Curriculares Base, en España. Estos definen entre otros aspectos el formato y la selección de contenidos que son seguidos por los diferentes autores y editoriales. Ambas directrices son orientaciones definidas por los Ministerios de Educación de cada país y que recomiendan, pero sin la fuerza de las leyes, la selección de contenidos, los principios psico-pedagógicos y las metodologías usadas en los libros didácticos de ciencia

Uniqueness and Nondegeneracy of Ground States for (−Δ)sQ+Q−Qα+1=0(-\Delta)^s Q + Q - Q^{\alpha+1} = 0 in R\mathbb{R}

We prove uniqueness of ground state solutions $Q = Q(|x|) \geq 0$ for the nonlinear equation $(-\Delta)^s Q + Q - Q^{\alpha+1}= 0$ in $\mathbb{R}$, where $0 < s < 1$ and $0 < \alpha < \frac{4s}{1-2s}$ for $s < 1/2$ and $0 < \alpha < \infty$ for $s \geq 1/2$. Here $(-\Delta)^s$ denotes the fractional Laplacian in one dimension. In particular, we generalize (by completely different techniques) the specific uniqueness result obtained by Amick and Toland for $s=1/2$ and $\alpha=1$ in [Acta Math., \textbf{167} (1991), 107--126]. As a technical key result in this paper, we show that the associated linearized operator $L_+ = (-\Delta)^s + 1 - (\alpha+1) Q^\alpha$ is nondegenerate; i.\,e., its kernel satisfies $\mathrm{ker}\, L_+ = \mathrm{span}\, \{Q'\}$. This result about $L_+$ proves a spectral assumption, which plays a central role for the stability of solitary waves and blowup analysis for nonlinear dispersive PDEs with fractional Laplacians, such as the generalized Benjamin-Ono (BO) and Benjamin-Bona-Mahony (BBM) water wave equations.Comment: 45 page

CP--odd Correlation in the Decay of Neutral Higgs Boson into ZZZZ, W+W−W^+W^-, or ttˉt{\bar t}

We investigate the possibility of detecting CP--odd angular correlations in the various decay modes of the neutral Higgs boson including the modes of a $ZZ$ pair, a $W^+W^-$ pair, or a heavy quark pair. It is a natural way to probe the CP character of the Higgs boson once it is identified. Final state interactions (i.e. the absorptive decay amplitude) is not required in such correlations. As an illustrative example we take the fundamental source of the CP nonconservation to be in the Yukawa couplings of the Higgs boson to the heavy fermions. A similar correlation in the process $e^+e^- \to l^+ l^- H$ is also proposed. Our analysis of these correlations will be useful for experiments in future colliders such as LEP II, SSC, LHC or NLC.Comment: 16 pages, plus 8 postscript graphs not posted befor

The nucleon's strange electromagnetic and scalar matrix elements

Quenched lattice QCD simulations and quenched chiral perturbation theory are used together for this study of strangeness in the nucleon. Dependences of the matrix elements on strange quark mass, valence quark mass and momentum transfer are discussed in both the lattice and chiral frameworks. The combined results of this study are in good agreement with existing experimental data and predictions are made for upcoming experiments. Possible future refinements of the theoretical method are suggested.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

High scale mixing unification and large neutrino mixing angles

Starting with the hypothesis that quark and lepton mixings are identical at or near the GUT scale, we show that the large solar and atmospheric neutrino mixing angles together with the small reactor angle $U_{e3}$ can be understood purely as a result of renormalization group evolution. The only requirements are that the three neutrinos must be quasi degenerate in mass and have same CP parity. It predicts that the common Majorana mass for the neutrinos must be larger than 0.1 eV making the idea testable in the currently planned or ongoing experiments searching for neutrinoless-double-beta decay.Comment: 10 pages, eight figure, two tables; new material added; results remain unchange

Primordial nucleosynthesis with a varying fine structure constant: An improved estimate

We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider contributions arising from Coulomb barrier penetration, photon coupling to nuclear currents, and the electromagnetic components of nuclear masses. We find the primordial abundances to depend more weakly on alpha than previously estimated, by up to a factor of 2 in the case of ^7Li. We discuss the constraints on variations in alpha from the individual abundance measurements and the uncertainties affecting these constraints. While the present best measurements of primordial D/H, ^4He/H, and ^7Li/H may be reconciled pairwise by adjusting alpha and the universal baryon density, no value of alpha allows all three to be accommodated simultaneously without consideration of systematic error. The combination of measured abundances with observations of acoustic peaks in the cosmic microwave background favors no change in alpha within the uncertainties.Comment: Phys. Rev. D accepted version; minor changes in response to refere

Relativistic versus Nonrelativistic Optical Potentials in A(e,e'p)B Reactions

We investigate the role of relativistic and nonrelativistic optical potentials used in the analysis of ($e,e'p$) data. We find that the relativistic calculations produce smaller ($e,e'p$) cross sections even in the case in which both relativistic and nonrelativistic optical potentials fit equally well the elastic proton--nucleus scattering data. Compared to the nonrelativistic impulse approximation, this effect is due to a depletion in the nuclear interior of the relativistic nucleon current, which should be taken into account in the nonrelativistic treatment by a proper redefinition of the effective current operator.Comment: Added one new figure, the formalism section has been enlarged and the list of references updated. Added one appendix. This version will appear in Phys. Rev. C. Revtex 3.0, 6 figures (not included). Full postscript version of the file and figures available at http://www.nikhefk.nikhef.nl/projects/Theory/preprints

Nonadiabatic approach to dimerization gap and optical absorption coefficient of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

An analytical nonadiabatic approach has been developed to study the dimerization gap and the optical absorption coefficient of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model where the electrons interact with dispersive quantum phonons. By investigating quantitatively the effects of quantum phonon fluctuations on the gap order and the optical responses in this system, we show that the dimerization gap is much more reduced by the quantum lattice fluctuations than the optical absorption coefficient is. The calculated optical absorption coefficient and the density of states do not have the inverse-square-root singularity, but have a peak above the gap edge and there exist a significant tail below the peak. The peak of optical absorption spectrum is not directly corresponding to the dimerized gap. Our results of the optical absorption coefficient agree well with those of the experiments in both the shape and the peak position of the optical absorption spectrum.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. to be published in PR