Effects of Rumen Fill on Intake and Milk Production in Dairy Cows Fed Perennial Ryegrass

Physical limitation often limits dry matter intake (DMI) of high producing cows or cows fed high forage diets. The extent to which DMI is regulated by distention in the rumen depends upon the cow’s energy requirement and filling effects of the diet offered (Allen, 2000). The objective here was to challenge middle lactation dairy cows with rumen fill (rumen inert bulk – RIB) feeding ryegrass fresh cut (indoors) or grazed to determine whether RIB affects intake and milk production

Bound vortex states and exotic lattices in multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates: The role of vortex-vortex interaction

We numerically study the vortex-vortex interaction in multi-component homogeneous Bose-Einstein condensates within the realm of the Gross-Pitaevskii theory. We provide strong evidences that pairwise vortex interaction captures the underlying mechanisms which determine the geometric configuration of the vortices, such as different lattices in many-vortex states, as well as the bound vortex states with two (dimer) or three (trimer) vortices. Specifically, we discuss and apply our theoretical approach to investigate intra- and inter-component vortex-vortex interactions in two- and three-component Bose-Einstein condensates, thereby shedding light on the formation of the exotic vortex configurations. These results correlate with current experimental efforts in multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates, and the understanding of the role of vortex interactions in multiband superconductors.Comment: Published in PR

Conditions for non-monotonic vortex interaction in two-band superconductors

We describe a semi-analytic approach to the two-band Ginzburg-Landau theory, which predicts the behavior of vortices in two-band superconductors. We show that the character of the short-range vortex-vortex interaction is determined by the sign of the normal domain - superconductor interface energy, in analogy with the conventional differentiation between type-I and type-II superconductors. However, we also show that the long-range interaction is determined by a modified Ginzburg-Landau parameter $\kappa^*$, different from the standard $\kappa$ of a bulk superconductor. This opens the possibility for non-monotonic vortex-vortex interaction, which is temperature-dependent, and can be further tuned by alterations of the material on the microscopic scale

Structural determinants for NF-Y/DNA interaction at the CCAAT box

The recently determined crystal structures of the sequence-specific transcription factor NF-Y have illuminated the structural mechanism underlying transcription at the CCAAT box. NF-Y is a trimeric protein complex composed by the NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC subunits. NF-YB and NF-YC contain a histone-like domain and assemble on a head-to-tail fashion to form a dimer, which provides the structural scaffold for the DNA sugar-phosphate backbone binding (mimicking the nucleosome H2A/H2B\ue2\u80\u93DNA assembly) and for the interaction with NF-YA. The NF-YA subunit hosts two structurally extended \uce\ub1-helices; one is involved in NF-YB/NF-YC binding and the other inserts deeply into the DNA minor groove, providing exquisite sequence-specificity for recognition and binding of the CCAAT box. The analysis of these structural data is expected to serve as a powerful guide for future experiments aimed at understanding the role of post-translational modification at NF-Y regulation sites and to unravel the three-dimensional architecture of higher order complexes formed between NF-Y and other transcription factors that act synergistically for transcription activation. Moreover, these structures represent an excellent starting point to challenge the formation of a stable hybrid nucleosome between NF-Y and core histone proteins, and to rationalize the fine molecular details associated with the wide combinatorial association of plant NF-Y subunits

Does the Feeding Behaviour of Dairy Cows Differ When Fed Ryegrass Indoors vs. Grazing?

Dairy cows eating ryegrass ingest smaller boli when grazing than when fed indoors (93 vs. 142 g; Boudon et al., 2004). To investigate whether this difference in bolus affects feeding behaviour of the cows, an automated system (chewing halters) was used to monitor feeding behaviour of cows given ad libitum access to perennial ryegrass in individual feed troughs (indoor feeding, IF) or at pasture (grazing, GR)

(Giant) Vortex - (anti) vortex interaction in bulk superconductors: The Ginzburg-Landau theory

The vortex-vortex interaction potential in bulk superconductors is calculated within the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory and is obtained from a numerical solution of a set of two coupled non-linear GL differential equations for the vector potential and the superconducting order parameter, where the merger of vortices into a giant vortex is allowed. Further, the interaction potentials between a vortex and a giant vortex and between a vortex and an antivortex are obtained for both type-I and type-II superconductors. Our numerical results agree asymptotically with the analytical expressions for large inter-vortex separations which are available in the literature. We propose new empirical expressions valid over the full interaction range, which are fitted to our numerical data for different values of the GL parameter