556 research outputs found
Detection of elliptical shapes via cross-entropy clustering
The problem of finding elliptical shapes in an image will be considered. We
discuss the solution which uses cross-entropy clustering. The proposed method
allows the search for ellipses with predefined sizes and position in the space.
Moreover, it works well for search of ellipsoids in higher dimensions
The potential of a solid-state fermentation supplement to augment white lupin (Lupinus albus) meal incorporation in diets for farmed common carp (Cyprinus carpio)
A 10-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of partially substituting soya protein concentrate (SPC), with white lupin (Lupinus albus) meal in carp (Cyprinus carpio) diets. This study further investigated the dietary inclusion of a solid-state fermentation (SSF) product of Aspergillus niger in tandem with SPC replacement. Six experimental diets were produced to be isonitrogenous (42%), isolipdic (8%) and isoenergetic (19 MJ kg−1). Four diets were formulated to have 12.5 and 25% substitution of SPC using lupin meal, and with and without a supplement of 0.1% of SSF. An additional two diets were designed to serve as a basal reference with no SPC replacement, but one supplemented with 0.1% SSF inclusion. The results of this study showed that SPC can be replaced with up to 25% white lupin meal in carp diets, without reduction of growth performance, feed utilisation, body composition, gut integrity or health. The addition of SSF to the test diets enhanced growth performance (specific growth rate, P < 0.05) and nutrient utilisation (e.g. feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio, P < 0.05)
Effects of dietary baker’s yeast extract on the growth, blood indices and histology of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus L.) fingerlings
Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (average initial weight, 5.91 ± 0.04 g), were fed four isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets for 84 days. The diets contained four levels of yeast extract (CW‐I) rich in nucleotides and β‐glucan: 0 (control), 5, 10 and 15 g/kg diet. Weight gain increased linearly, whereas the feed conversion ratio decreased linearly with increasing levels of yeast extract. The diet containing 15 g/kg yeast extract resulted in significantly better (p 0.05) differences were found in dry matter, protein, lipid or ash contents or in haematocrit, haemoglobin or total protein contents among the treatment groups. Blood sample profiles showed an increase in white and red blood cells in fish fed 15 g/kg yeast extract in comparison with the other treatment groups. The fish fed the diets with 10 and 15 g/kg yeast extract had significantly higher albumin and globulin levels than the control group, whereas decreased levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were noted in fish fed the diet with 15 g/kg yeast extract. Histological analysis of the liver and intestine in fish fed the control diet showed a slightly abnormal structure in these organs. Only in fish fed diets supplemented with the highest amount of yeast extract was the structure of the hepatocytes and villi almost unchanged, which indicated that the yeast nucleotides could improve hepatic function and promote liver and gut restoration
Benefits of a commercial solid-state fermentation (SSF) product on growth performance, feed efficiency and gut morphology of juvenile Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fed different UK lupin meal cultivars
A nutritional investigation was conducted to determine whether growth performance, feed efficiency and midgut morphology of Nile tilapia is affected by United Kingdom cultivars of Yellow Lupin (Control, Y) (YLC) or Blue Lupin (Control, B) (BLC) inclusions compared to the addition of a commercial solid-state fermentation product (SSF) in separate dietary treatments for both lupin cultivars (YLS and BLS). After 49 days of feeding, tilapia receiving SSF supplemented diets (YLS & BLS) exhibited significantly greater weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and condition factor (K) compared to YLC or BLC without solid state fermentation. SSF inclusion exhibited significantly improving of enterocyte height within both the first and second half of the experiment (P .05); although a potential response over time was apparent in the YLS group. Enterocyte microvilli were significantly wider in fish fed YLC diets (P < .05), whilst they were significantly longer in the BLC control compared to the YLC control (P < .05). Microvilli lengths of fish fed YLS were comparable to those receiving BLC diets and close to being significantly longer than those fed YLC alone (P = .06). Overall, BLC appeared to perform superiorly to YLC; whilst SSF inclusion promoted some desirable production parameters, seemingly most effectively in the YLC diet
Dietary nucleotides enhance growth performance, feed efficiency and intestinal functional topography in European Seabass ( Dicentrarchus labrax )
Nucleotides, nucleosides and nucleic acids (NU) have many critical functions in supporting life and increasing evidence suggests that exogenous supply can benefit the health of mammals and fish. For these reasons, a 6‐week feeding trial was conducted on juvenile European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) with diets containing 0%, 0.15% and 0.3% inclusion of a NU mixture (Laltide®) derived from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. At the end of the study no significant differences were found in fish performance, although a tendency towards better performance was indicated in fish fed the Nu0.3 diet. In relation to histological assessment, a significantly greater perimeter ratio; internal to outer (IP/OP) was observed in the posterior intestine of fish fed supplemental NU. Microvilli heights in the posterior intestine were also shown to be significantly promoted in fish fed NU diets (p 0.05). Overall, this study indicates that orally administered NU may be effective promoters of gut functional topography with marginal associated improvements to fish performance. Nonetheless, longer exposure and/or commercial scale application, and in diets that were challenging in use of high inclusion levels of plant by‐products would potentially amplify improvements in production characteristics, in turn benefiting fish culturists
Properties of the Bose glass phase in irradiated superconductors near the matching field
Structural and transport properties of interacting localized flux lines in
the Bose glass phase of irradiated superconductors are studied by means of
Monte Carlo simulations near the matching field B_Phi, where the densities of
vortices and columnar defects are equal. For a completely random columnar pin
distribution in the xy-plane transverse to the magnetic field, our results show
that the repulsive vortex interactions destroy the Mott insulator phase which
was predicted to occur at B = B_Phi. On the other hand, for ratios of the
penetration depth to average defect distance lambda/d <= 1, characteristic
remnants of the Mott insulator singularities remain visible in experimentally
accessible quantities as the magnetization, the bulk modulus, and the
magnetization relaxation, when B is varied near B_Phi. For spatially more
regular disorder, e.g., a nearly triangular defect distribution, we find that
the Mott insulator phase can survive up to considerably large interaction range
\lambda/d, and may thus be observable in experiments.Comment: RevTex, 17 pages, eps files for 12 figures include
Optimal Management of Severe/Refractory Asthma
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, affecting approximately 300 million people worldwide. Asthma results in airway hyperresponsiveness, leading to paroxysmal symptoms of wheeze, cough, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. When these symptoms remain uncontrolled, despite treatment with high doses of inhaled and ingested corticosteroids, asthmatic patients are predisposed to greater morbidity and require more health care support. Treating patients with severe asthma can be difficult and often poses a challenge to physicians when providing ongoing management. This clinical review aims to discuss the definition, prevalence and evaluation of severe asthmatics, and provides a review of the existing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment options
Interactions, Distribution of Pinning Energies, and Transport in the Bose Glass Phase of Vortices in Superconductors
We study the ground state and low energy excitations of vortices pinned to
columnar defects in superconductors, taking into account the long--range
interaction between the fluxons. We consider the ``underfilled'' situation in
the Bose glass phase, where each flux line is attached to one of the defects,
while some pins remain unoccupied. By exploiting an analogy with disordered
semiconductors, we calculate the spatial configurations in the ground state, as
well as the distribution of pinning energies, using a zero--temperature Monte
Carlo algorithm minimizing the total energy with respect to all possible
one--vortex transfers. Intervortex repulsion leads to strong correlations
whenever the London penetration depth exceeds the fluxon spacing. A pronounced
peak appears in the static structure factor for low filling fractions . Interactions lead to a broad Coulomb gap in the distribution of
pinning energies near the chemical potential , separating
the occupied and empty pins. The vanishing of at leads to a
considerable reduction of variable--range hopping vortex transport by
correlated flux line pinning.Comment: 16 pages (twocolumn), revtex, 16 figures not appended, please contact
[email protected]
Vacuum fluctuations and topological Casimir effect in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies with compact dimensions
We investigate the Wightman function, the vacuum expectation values of the
field squared and the energy-momentum tensor for a massless scalar field with
general curvature coupling parameter in spatially flat
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with an arbitrary number of toroidally
compactified dimensions. The topological parts in the expectation values are
explicitly extracted and in this way the renormalization is reduced to that for
the model with trivial topology. In the limit when the comoving lengths of the
compact dimensions are very short compared to the Hubble length, the
topological parts coincide with those for a conformal coupling and they are
related to the corresponding quantities in the flat spacetime by standard
conformal transformation. In the opposite limit of large comoving lengths of
the compact dimensions, in dependence of the curvature coupling parameter, two
regimes are realized with monotonic or oscillatory behavior of the vacuum
expectation values. In the monotonic regime and for nonconformally and
nonminimally coupled fields the vacuum stresses are isotropic and the equation
of state for the topological parts in the energy density and pressures is of
barotropic type. In the oscillatory regime, the amplitude of the oscillations
for the topological part in the expectation value of the field squared can be
either decreasing or increasing with time, whereas for the energy-momentum
tensor the oscillations are damping.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure
Interaction model for magnetic holes in a ferrofluid layer
Nonmagnetic spheres confined in a ferrofluid layer (magnetic holes) present
dipolar interactions when an external magnetic field is exerted. The
interaction potential of a microsphere pair is derived analytically, with a
precise care for the boundary conditions along the glass plates confining the
system. Considering external fields consisting of a constant normal component
and a high frequency rotating in-plane component, this interaction potential is
averaged over time to exhibit the average interparticular forces acting when
the imposed frequency exceeds the inverse of the viscous relaxation time of the
system. The existence of an equilibrium configuration without contact between
the particles is demonstrated for a whole range of exciting fields, and the
equilibrium separation distance depending on the structure of the external
field is established. The stability of the system under out-of-plane buckling
is also studied. The dynamics of such a particle pair is simulated and
validated by experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures (18 with subfigures). to appear in Phys. Rev.
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