Dried chicory root (Cichorium intybus L.) as a natural fructan source in rabbit diet: effects on growth performance, digestion and caecal and carcass traits

[EN] Three experimental diets were formulated including (per kg) 100 g oats (control diet), 50 g chicory root (Chicory 5 diet) or 100 g chicory root (Chicory 10 diet) at the expense of oats. The diets differed with respect to starch and fructan contents. In the performance trial, 120 Hyplus rabbits were randomly allocated to three groups (two rabbits per cage) and fed one of the three experimental diets between 31 and 73 days of age. At the end of the trial period, 20 rabbits per treatment were slaughtered and used for evaluation of carcass traits. In addition, the coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of the diets and caecal traits were determined from 45 to 49 days of age in 10 rabbits per treatment. The diets did not differ significantly in terms of weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, health status or carcass traits of rabbits. The CTTADs of crude protein (P=0.041) and ether extract (P=0.006) were lower in rabbits fed the Chicory 10 diet than in rabbits fed the control diet. The CTTAD of starch (P<0.001) was lower, whereas that of fructans (P<0.001) higher, in rabbits fed the diets based on chicory root. The caecum weight (P=0.037), the weight of its contents (P=0.025) and the lactic acid (P=0.028) concentration were higher in rabbits fed the Chicory 10 diet than in control rabbits. On the contrary, rabbits fed with the chicory diets showed lower caecal pH (P=0.048) than rabbits fed the control diet. There was a tendency towards a lower caecal dry matter content and higher total VFA concentration in rabbits fed the chicory diets. It may be concluded that chicory root can serve as a natural source of inulin-type fructans in rabbit feed. Diet supplementation with 10% dried chicory root beneficially affected the caecal fermentative activity in the rabbits, without significant reductions in the nutritive value of the diet, growth performance or carcass quality.Financial support for this study was provided by the institutional research project MZE 0002701404Volek, Z.; Marounek, M. (2011). Dried chicory root (Cichorium intybus L.) as a natural fructan source in rabbit diet: effects on growth performance, digestion and caecal and carcass traits. World Rabbit Science. 19(3):143-150. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2011.850SWORD14315019

Scalable Safe Policy Improvement via Monte Carlo Tree Search

Algorithms for safely improving policies are important to deploy reinforcement learning approaches in real-world scenarios. In this work, we propose an algorithm, called MCTS-SPIBB, that computes safe policy improvement online using a Monte Carlo Tree Search based strategy. We theoretically prove that the policy generated by MCTS-SPIBB converges, as the number of simulations grows, to the optimal safely improved policy generated by Safe Policy Improvement with Baseline Bootstrapping (SPIBB), a popular algorithm based on policy iteration. Moreover, our empirical analysis performed on three standard benchmark domains shows that MCTS-SPIBB scales to significantly larger problems than SPIBB because it computes the policy online and locally, i.e., only in the states actually visited by the agent

The performance of the LHCf detector for hadronic showers

The Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment has been designed to use the LHC to benchmark the hadronic interaction models used in cosmic-ray physics. The LHCf experiment measures neutral particles emitted in the very forward region of LHC collisions. In this paper, the performances of the LHCf detectors for hadronic showers was studied with MC simulations and beam tests. The detection efficiency for neutrons is from 60% to 70% above 500 GeV. The energy resolutions are about 40% and the position resolution is 0.1 to 1.3mm depend on the incident energy for neutrons. The energy scale determined by the MC simulations and the validity of the MC simulations were examined using 350 GeV proton beams at the CERN-SPS.Comment: 15pages, 19 figure

Measurement of forward neutral pion transverse momentum spectra for s\sqrt{s} = 7TeV proton-proton collisions at LHC

The inclusive production rate of neutral pions in the rapidity range greater than $y=8.9$ has been measured by the Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment during LHC $\sqrt{s}=7$\,TeV proton-proton collision operation in early 2010. This paper presents the transverse momentum spectra of the neutral pions. The spectra from two independent LHCf detectors are consistent with each other and serve as a cross check of the data. The transverse momentum spectra are also compared with the predictions of several hadronic interaction models that are often used for high energy particle physics and for modeling ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray showers.Comment: 18 Pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

XM_HeatForecast: Heating Load Forecasting in Smart District Heating Networks

Forecasting is an important task for intelligent agents involved in dynamical processes. A specific application domain concerns district heating networks, in which the future heating load generated by centralized power plants and distributed to buildings must be optimized for better plant maintenance, energy consumption and environmental impact. In this paper we present XM_HeatForecast a Python tool designed to support district heating network operators. The tool provides an integrated architecture for i) generating and updating in real-time predictive models of heating load, ii) supporting the analysis of prediction performance and errors, iii) inspecting model parameters and analyzing the historical dataset from which models are trained. A case study is presented in which the software is used on a synthetic dataset of heat loads and weather forecast from which a regression model is generated and updated every 24 h, while predictions of load in the next 48 h are performed every hour. Software available at: https://github.com/XModeling Video available at: https://youtu.be/JtInizI4e_s

Measurement of zero degree single photon energy spectra for sqrt(s) = 7TeV proton-proton collisions at LHC

In early 2010, the Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment measured very forward neutral particle spectra in LHC proton-proton collisions. From a limited data set taken under the best beam conditions (low beam-gas background and low occurance of pile-up events), the single photon spectra at sqrt(s)=7TeV and pseudo-rapidity (eta) ranges from 8.81 to 8.99 and from 10.94 to infinity were obtained for the first time and are reported in this paper. The spectra from two independent LHCf detectors are consistent with one another and serve as a cross check of the data. The photon spectra are also compared with the predictions of several hadron interaction models that are used extensively for modeling ultra high energy cosmic ray showers. Despite conservative estimates for the systematic errors, none of the models agree perfectly with the measurements. A notable difference is found between the data and the DPMJET 3.04 and PYTHIA 8.145 hadron interaction models above 2TeV where the models predict higher photon yield than the data. The QGSJET II-03 model predicts overall lower photon yield than the data, especially above 2TeV in the rapidity range 8.81<eta<8.99

Effect of Dietary n-3 Source on Rabbit Male Reproduction

In the last two decades, the human sperm count linearly decreased in Western countries. Health problems, lifestyle, pollutants, and dietary behaviours are considered as the main risk factors, and the unbalance of dietary n-6/n-3 fatty acids is one of the most relevant. The aim of the present research is to study the effect of different dietary sources of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on reproductive traits using rabbit buck as the animal model. Fifteen rabbit bucks were assigned to three experimental groups: the control group, the FLAX group fed 10% extruded flaxseed, and the FISH group fed 3.5% fish oil for 110 days (50-day adaptation and 60-day experimental periods). Semen samples were collected weekly, whereas blood was collected every two weeks for the analytical determination of semen traits, oxidative status, fatty acid profiles, isoprostanes, neuroprostanes, and the immunocytochemistry of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic (EPA) acid. At the end of the trial, the rabbits were killed and the testes were removed and stored for the analysis of fatty acid profile and immunocytochemistry. Results showed that dietary administration of n-3 PUFA improved the track speed of the sperm and increased the n-3 long-chain PUFA mainly confined in the sperm tail. Seminal plasma increased the thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARs) by three times in the groups fed supplemental n-3, whereas the F2-isoprotanes (F2-IsoPs) and F4-neuroprostanes (F4-NeuroPs) were lower and higher, respectively, in both supplemented groups than in the control. The testes and sperm showed a higher DHA and EPA distribution in rabbits from the n-3 supplemented groups compared with the control. In conclusion, supplemental dietary n-3 PUFA improved sperm motion traits and resulted in an enrichment of membrane fatty acid in the sperm and testes of the rabbits. However, such an increased amount of PUFA negatively affected the sperm oxidative status, which was mainly correlated with the generation of F4-NeuroPs with respect to F2-IsoPs. Accordingly, the latter cannot be considered a good marker of oxidation when diets rich in n-3 PUFA are provided