Effect of Different Sodium Bentonite Levels on Performance, Carcass Traits and Passage Rate of Broilers

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of different sodium bentonite (SB) levels on performance, carcass characteristics and passage rate of broilers. Two hundred eighty eight day-old Ross strain mix broilers were allocated to 6 experimental diets with 4 replications in a completely randomized design. Treatments levels of sodium bentonite were 0.00, 0.75, 1.50, 2.25, 3.00 and 3.75%. Broilers fed SB containing diets consumed more feeds (P<0.05) and showed better weight gain (P>0.05) with no difference across treatments containing SB. The diet with 3.75% SB had the best FCR. Relative weight of liver decreased as percentage of SB increased in diet while control group had highest relative weight of breast (P<0.05). Supplementation of diets by SB increased retention time and decreased gastrointestinal passage rate. The use of SB in broiler diets had no adverse effects on performance; addition SB to broiler diets had beneficial effects on performance, carcass characteristics and passage rate and resulted in improved efficiency of production

Device-circuit interactions and impact on TFT circuit-system design

This paper reviews the importance of device-circuit interactions (DCI) and its consideration when designing thin film transistor circuits and systems. We examine temperature- and process-induced variations and propose a way to evaluate the maximum achievable intrinsic performance of the TFT. This is aimed at determining when DCI becomes crucial for a specific application. Compensation methods are then reviewed to show examples of how DCI is considered in the design of AMOLED displays. Other designs such as analog front-end and image sensors are also discussed, where alternate circuits should be designed to overcome the limitations of the intrinsic device properties

Effects of processed recycled poultry bedding with tannins extracted from pomegranate peel on the nutrient digestibility and growth performance of lambs

The aim of this experiment was to decrease the rumen degradability rate of recycled poultry bedding (RPB) protein using pomegranate peel extract (PPE) as the tannin source. Furthermore, to study the effects of this processing method on nutrient digestibility, rumen and blood parameters, nitrogen retention, growth performance, carcass characteristics of male Arabi lambs, and the economic value of diets and production. Thirty-two Arabi lambs (19.7 ± 2.45 kg bodyweight, 90 ± 12 days old) were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments including a control and RPB treated with 20%, 25% and 30% PPE on a dry matter basis. Compared with the control, treatment of RPB with PPE did not affect apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fibre or acid detergent fibre. However, apparent crude protein digestibility decreased significantly. Dietary treatments had no effect on ruminal pH, although ammonia-nitrogen and blood urea nitrogen concentration decreased in diets containing RPB treated with PPE. All lambs were in a positive nitrogen balance and the highest nitrogen retention was observed in the dietary group that was fed RPB treated with 25% PPE. Adding PPE to RPB up to 25% significantly increased final bodyweight, total gain, average daily gain and warm carcass weight, and improved the economic values of production as it decreased the price of each kilogram diet and cost per unit of production (each kilogram bodyweight). The dry matter intake and gain efficiency were unaffected by treatments. Therefore, treatment of RPB with 25% PPE in the finishing diets of Arabi lambs improved growth performance and nitrogen metabolism without affecting feed intake and gain efficiency, and warm carcass weight, and improved the economic values of production.Keywords: ammonia nitrogen, blood urea nitrogen, carcass characteristics, economic analysis, nitrogen balanc

Evaluation of the effect of fat content of sunflower meal on rumen fungi growth and population by direct (quantitative competitive polymerase chain reaction) and indirect (dry matter and neutral detergent fibre disappearance) methods

The major aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of fat content of sunflower meal (150 and 30 g fat /kg dry matter, high and low fat, respectively) on population, growth and activity of rumen anaerobic fungi by using direct (quantitative competitive polymerase chain reaction, QC-PCR) and indirect (dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) disappearance in rumen fungi media culture for 12 days) methods. The results of QC-PCR showed that rumen anaerobic fungi population in the medium containing high fat sunflower meal was greater as compared to low fat sunflower meal (+0.14 vs. +0.10) (P&lt;0.05). Also, disappearance of dry matter after 12 days incubation with rumen fungi will be 36.1 and 35.7 g/100 g DM for high and low fat sunflower meal, respectively) (P&gt;0.05). High fat of sunflower meal caused increase in natural detergent fibre disappearance 12 days after culturing as compared to low fat sunflower meal (145.2 vs 139.2 mg/g dry matter, respectively) (P&lt;0.05). Therefore, it appears that fat content of sunflower meal does not negatively affect the population, growth and activity of rumen fungi.Key words: Fat, sunflower meal, rumen fungi, quantitative competitive polymerase chain reaction, disappearance

Effects of Cadmium on Rumen Fermentation and Nutrient Digestibility Using Dual Flow Continuous Culture System

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different doses of cadmium on fermentation characterization and nutrient digestibility using dual flow continuous culture system. Eight dual-flow, continuous culture fermenters were used in 2 replicated periods of 10 d (7 d of adaptation and 3 d of sampling). Fermenters were inoculated with a composited ruminal fluid from 3 beef steers fed a high concentrate diet for at least 2 mo before the beginning of the trial. Anaerobic conditions were maintained by the infusion of N2 at a rate of 40 mL/min. Temperature (38.5°C) and liquid (10%/h) and solid (5%/h) dilution rates were kept constant. Fermenters were fed daily with 120 g dry matter in three equal portions. Treatments arranged as complete randomized block design with control and addition three levels of cadmium (0.1, 1 and 10 mg/l) to the high concentrate diet (15:85 forage to concentrate ratio). Organic matter, dry matter, NDF and ADF digestibility significantly decreased with the addition of 1 and 10 mg/l cadmium to the culture media compered to control treatment (P<0.05). Cadmium significantly decreased total volatile fatty acids concentration, acetate proportion and acetate to propionate ratio. Propionate and butyrate proportion increased significantly in response to cadmium addition (P<0.05). Concentration of NH3-N was significantly decreased in 1 and 10 mg/l cadmium treatments compared with control treatment. The results of this study suggest that cadmium in doses of 1 mg/l or more had strong inhibitory effect on mixed rumen microorganisms

Traffic signs detection and prohibitor signs recognition in Morocco road scene

Traffic sign detection is a crucial aspect of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for academic research and the automotive industry. seeing that accurate and timely detection of traffic signs (TS) is essential for ensuring the safety of driving. However, TS detection methods encounter challenges like slow detection speed and a lack of robustness in complex environments. This paper suggests addressing these limitations by proposing the use of the you only look one version 7 (YOLOv7) network to detect and recognize TS in road scenes. Furthermore, the k-means++ algorithm is used to acquire anchor boxes. Additionally, a tiny version of YOLOv7 is used to take advantage of its real-time and low model size, which are required for real-time hardware implementation. So, we conducted an experiment using our proprietary Morocco dataset. According to the experimental results, YOLOv7 achieves 85% in terms of mean average precision (mAP) at 0.5 for all classes. And YOLOv7-tiny obtains 90% in the same term. Afterward, a recognition system for the prohibitive class using the convolutional neural network (CNN) is trained and integrated inside the YOLOv7 algorithm; its model achieves an accuracy of 99%, which leads to a good specification of the prohibitive sign meaning

Thin-Film Transistor Integration for Biomedical Imaging and AMOLED Displays

Thin film transistor (TFT) backplanes are being continuously researched for new applications such as active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) displays, sensors, and x-ray imagers. However, the circuits implemented in presently available fabrication technologies including poly silicon (poly-Si), hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), and organic semiconductor, are prone to spatial and/or temporal non-uniformities. While current-programmed active matrix (AM) can tolerate mismatches and non-uniformity caused by aging, the long settling time is a significant limitation. Consequently, acceleration schemes are needed and are proposed to reduce the settling time to 20 µs. This technique is used in the development of a pixel circuit and system for biomedical imager and sensor. Here, a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitor is adopted for adjustment and boost of the circuit gain. Thus, the new pixel architecture supports multi-modality imaging for a wide range of applications with various input signal intensities. Also, for applications with lower current levels, a fast current-mode line driver is developed based on positive feedback which controls the effect of the parasitic capacitance. The measured settling time of a conventional current source is around 2 ms for a 100-nA input current and 200-pF parasitic capacitance whereas it is less than 4 μs for the driver presented here. For displays needed in mobile devices such as cell phones and DVD players, another new driving scheme is devised that provides for a high temporal stability, low-power consumption, high tolerance of temperature variations, and high resolution. The performance of the new driving scheme is demonstrated in a 9-inch fabricated display intended for DVD players. Also, a multi-modal imager pixel circuit is developed using this technique to provide for gain-adjustment capability. Here, the readout operation is not destructive, enabling the use of low-cost readout circuitry and noise reduction techniques. In addition, a highly stable and reliable driving scheme, based on step calibration is introduced for high precision displays and imagers. This scheme takes advantage of the slow aging of the electronics in the backplane to simplify the drive electronics. The other attractive features of this newly developed driving scheme are its simplicity, low-power consumption, and fast programming critical for implementation of large-area and high-resolution active matrix arrays for high precision