Effect of dietary mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.) and pine needle powder (Pinus densiflora) on growth performance, serum cholesterol levels, and meat quality in broilers

The effects of dietary mugwort and pine needle powder supplementation on growth performance, serum cholesterol, and meat quality of broilers were evaluated in a 35 days feed trial. 200 one day old broilers were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments (0, 1 and 2% mugwort or 1 and 2% pine needle powder) with four replicate pens of 10 birds per treatment. During the experimental period, growth performance did not differ among treatments (P > 0.05). The additives with mugwort and pine needle showed lower crude fat content of thigh muscle compared with the control (P < 0.05); however, no significant differences were detected for moisture, crude protein and crude ash content of thigh muscle. Compared with the control, total phenol content and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity were significantly increased (P < 0.05) with the inclusion of mugwort and pine needle powder level in the broilers’ diets, whereas pH values decreased (P < 0.05). Serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) by the increased mugwort and pine needle powder level in the diet, except for high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations. For thigh meat color, inclusion of mugwort and pine needle powder decreased L* and b* values and increased a* values in thigh muscle of broilers compared with the controls (P < 0.05). Overall, the present study indicates the beneficial effect of using 1 or 2% mugwort and pine needle powder in reducing serum cholesterol and improving meat quality.Key words: Mugwort, pine needle powder, serum cholesterol, meat quality

Wave hindcast from integrally coupled wave-tide-surge model of the East China sea

With the recent introduction of the coupled system (ADCIRC hydrodynamic and SWAN wave model) which can run on the same unstructured mesh, allowing the physics of wave-circulation interactions to be correctly resolved in both models and all energy from deep to shallow waters to be seamlessly followed, the resulting modeling system can be used extensively for the prediction of typhoon surges and usual barotropic forecast. The result confirms the necessity to incorporate the wave-current interaction effect into coastal area in the wave-tide-surge coupled model. At the same time, effects of depth-induced wave breaking, wind field, currents and sea surface elevation in prediction of\ud waves are included. Especially, we found that the wind wave significantly enhances the current and surge elevation. The resulting modeling system can be used for hindcasting (prediction) and forecasting the wave-tide-surge distribution in the environments with complex coastline, shallow water and fine sediment area like around Korean Peninsula

Swell prediction for the East Korean coast

Long-period abnormally high swell waves have been generated in the East Sea near Hokkaido, Japan, in winter during the atmospheric depression. These waves, named Yorimawari in Japanese, occasionally attack the coasts of both Korea and Japan. Waves significantly higher than normal years were recorded along the east Korean coast in 2006. In 2008, the swell caused considerable damages in Toyama and the Niigata coastal area of Japan and in Anmok east coast of Korea. This paper attempts to hindcast these events using unstructured grid wave model UnSwan with input of high resolution reanalysis wind data from ECMWF. Wave heights and periods are found to be fairly well reproduced comparing with the observed values in the south of the East/Japan Sea, although the long period wave with small amplitude is hardly reproduced

Neutron beam test of CsI crystal for dark matter search

We have studied the response of Tl-doped and Na-doped CsI crystals to nuclear recoils and $\gamma$'s below 10 keV. The response of CsI crystals to nuclear recoil was studied with mono-energetic neutrons produced by the $^3$H(p,n)$^3$He reaction. This was compared to the response to Compton electrons scattered by 662 keV $\gamma$-ray. Pulse shape discrimination between the response to these $\gamma$'s and nuclear recoils was studied, and quality factors were estimated. The quenching factors for nuclear recoils were derived for both CsI(Na) and CsI(Tl) crystals.Comment: 21pages, 14figures, submitted to NIM

CONTROL OF COLUMNAR-TO-EQUIAXED TRANSITION IN CONTINUOUS CASTING OF 16% Cr STAINLESS STEEL

In continuous casting of 16%Cr ferritic stainless steel, columnar grains undesirably forming among equiaxedgrains make non-uniform microstructure and degrade ridging property. Since this phenomenon results fromthe change of solidification condition during continuous casting, we focused on Cellular-to-Equiaxed Transition(CET) in continuous casting of 16%Cr ferritic stainless steel to control the microstructure of as-cast slab.In order to find the CET condition, we carried out the one dimensional heat transfer analysis of the melt, andpredicted the CET condition by Hunt’s model. It was revealed that the secondary columnar grains usually formedat 0.5~0.8 solid fractions, and the formation of them resulted from a steep increase of G/V1/2 value as themelt was getting out of EMS field; however the increase of G/V1/2 was readily controlled by changing EMSpattern and the secondary cooling intensity. In result, secondary columnar grains were eliminated by optimizingthe upper and lower EMS intensity, and increasing secondary cooling intensity. We also investigatedthe effect of solidification parameters including superheat and casting speed as CET condition in continuouscasting process, and the results were also discussed by the terms of thermal condition of melt

Melting of Charge/Orbital Ordered States in Nd1/2_{1/2}Sr1/2_{1/2}MnO3_3: Temperature and Magnetic Field Dependent Optical Studies

We investigated the temperature ($T=$ 15 $\sim$ 290 K) and the magnetic field ($H=$ 0 $\sim$ 17 T) dependent optical conductivity spectra of a charge/orbital ordered manganite, Nd$_{1/2}$Sr$_{1/2}$MnO$_3$. With variation of $T$ and $H$, large spectral weight changes were observed up to 4.0 eV. These spectral weight changes could be explained using the polaron picture. Interestingly, our results suggested that some local ordered state might remain above the charge ordering temperature, and that the charge/orbital melted state at a high magnetic field (i.e. at $H=$ 17 T and $$ 4.2 K) should be a three dimensional ferromagnetic metal. We also investigated the first order phase transition from the charge/orbital ordered state to ferromagnetic metallic state using the $T$- and $H$% -dependent dielectric constants $\epsilon_1$. In the charge/orbital ordered insulating state, $\epsilon_1$ was positive and $d\epsilon_1/d\omega \approx 0$. With increasing $T$ and $H$, $\epsilon_1$ was increased up to the insulator-metal phase boundaries. And then, $\epsilon_1$ abruptly changed into negative and $d\epsilon_1/d\omega >0$, which was consistent with typical responses of a metal. Through the analysis of $\epsilon_1$ using an effective medium approximation, we found that the melting of charge/orbital ordered states should occur through the percolation of ferromagnetic metal domains.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.