Validation of the Software “Recycling of Nutrients” in Dairy-Farms of Western Cuba

To maintain a good productivity in the soil-plant-animal system it is necessary to achieve an equilibrium between input and output of nutrients and energy. Models and simulation software have been proposed for this purpose. For dairy farms, models have been utilised to show the behaviour of different aspects, such as: feed utilisation, energy flow, digestibility values and daily weight gains (Freer et al., 1970; Assis & France, 1983, Bruce et al., 1984). However, there are few models showing the interaction between soil-plant- animal components of these systems. The objective of the present study was to validate the software Recycling of Nutrients proposed by Ortiz (2000) for dairy farms of western Cuba

Anthocyanins protect the gastrointestinal tract from high fat diet-induced alterations in redox signaling, barrier integrity and dysbiosis.

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract can play a critical role in the development of pathologies associated with overeating, overweight and obesity. We previously observed that supplementation with anthocyanins (AC) (particularly glycosides of cyanidin and delphinidin) mitigated high fat diet (HFD)-induced development of obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and steatosis in C57BL/6J mice. This paper investigated whether these beneficial effects could be related to AC capacity to sustain intestinal monolayer integrity, prevent endotoxemia, and HFD-associated dysbiosis. The involvement of redox-related mechanisms were further investigated in Caco-2 cell monolayers. Consumption of a HFD for 14 weeks caused intestinal permeabilization and endotoxemia, which were associated with a decreased ileum expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins (occludin, ZO-1 and claudin-1), increased expression of NADPH oxidase (NOX1 and NOX4) and NOS2 and oxidative stress, and activation of redox sensitive signals (NF-κB and ERK1/2) that regulate TJ dynamics. AC supplementation mitigated all these events and increased GLP-2 levels, the intestinal hormone that upregulates TJ protein expression. AC also prevented, in vitro, tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced Caco-2 monolayer permeabilization, NOX1/4 upregulation, oxidative stress, and NF-κB and ERK activation. HFD-induced obesity in mice caused dysbiosis and affected the levels and secretion of MUC2, a mucin that participates in intestinal cell barrier protection and immune response. AC supplementation restored microbiota composition and MUC2 levels and distribution in HFD-fed mice. Thus, AC, particularly delphinidin and cyanidin, can preserve GI physiology in HFD-induced obesity in part through redox-regulated mechanisms. This can in part explain AC capacity to mitigate pathologies, i.e. insulin resistance and steatosis, associated with HFD-associated obesity

Mist and Edge Computing Cyber-Physical Human-Centered Systems for Industry 5.0: A Cost-Effective IoT Thermal Imaging Safety System

While many companies worldwide are still striving to adjust to Industry 4.0 principles, the transition to Industry 5.0 is already underway. Under such a paradigm, Cyber-Physical Human-centered Systems (CPHSs) have emerged to leverage operator capabilities in order to meet the goals of complex manufacturing systems towards human-centricity, resilience and sustainability. This article first describes the essential concepts for the development of Industry 5.0 CPHSs and then analyzes the latest CPHSs, identifying their main design requirements and key implementation components. Moreover, the major challenges for the development of such CPHSs are outlined. Next, to illustrate the previously described concepts, a real-world Industry 5.0 CPHS is presented. Such a CPHS enables increased operator safety and operation tracking in manufacturing processes that rely on collaborative robots and heavy machinery. Specifically, the proposed use case consists of a workshop where a smarter use of resources is required, and human proximity detection determines when machinery should be working or not in order to avoid incidents or accidents involving such machinery. The proposed CPHS makes use of a hybrid edge computing architecture with smart mist computing nodes that processes thermal images and reacts to prevent industrial safety issues. The performed experiments show that, in the selected real-world scenario, the developed CPHS algorithms are able to detect human presence with low-power devices (with a Raspberry Pi 3B) in a fast and accurate way (in less than 10 ms with a 97.04% accuracy), thus being an effective solution that can be integrated into many Industry 5.0 applications. Finally, this article provides specific guidelines that will help future developers and managers to overcome the challenges that will arise when deploying the next generation of CPHSs for smart and sustainable manufacturing.Comment: 32 page

Pressure of massless hot scalar theory in the boundary effective theory framework

We use the boundary effective theory (BET) approach to thermal field theory in order to calculate the pressure of a system of massless scalar fields with quartic interaction. The method naturally separates the infrared physics, and is essentially non-perturbative. To lowest order, the main ingredient is the solution of the free Euler-Lagrange equation with non-trivial (time) boundary conditions. We derive a resummed pressure, which is in good agreement with recent calculations found in the literature, following a very direct and compact procedure.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

What about vaginal extraction of the kidney? results of an online survey

PURPOSE: We aimed to characterize surgeons opinion about the vaginal extraction of the kidney after transperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy. Matherial and Methods: A 9-item questionnaire was published online (Survey Monkey TM) and publicized via email to a multidisciplinary pool of surgeons in Portugal. Data was collected and statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 21.0. RESULTS: Three hundred and fifty nine inquiries were sent, 154 surgeons completed the questionnaires (response rate of 43.0%). Fifty five point eight percent of the participants would choose the transvaginal approach for themselves or for a close relative. The most stated arguments were a better cosmesis (29.0%) expectancy of lower post operative pain (26.0%) and lower rate of incisional hernias (23.0%). Defenders of the transabdominal procedure justified with an expectancy of lower complication rate (39%), namely impairment of sexual function and fertility (22%). The female gender and the familiarity with transvaginal surgery were the stronger predictors of the option for this approach (70.6% vs 48.5%; p=0,016 and 85.3% vs 46.6%; p <0.001 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Contrasting with similar surveys published on transvaginal NOTES, the vaginal specimen extraction after conventional laparoscopic nephrectomy was fairly accepted by the inquired surgeons.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effective potential in the BET formalism

We calculate the one-loop effective potential at finite temperature for a system of massless scalar fields with quartic interaction $\lambda\phi^4$ in the framework of the boundary effective theory (BET) formalism. The calculation relies on the solution of the classical equation of motion for the field, and Gaussian fluctuations around it. Our result is non-perturbative and differs from the standard one-loop effective potential for field values larger than $T/\sqrt{\lambda}$.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

The first Delta a observations of three globular clusters

Globular clusters are main astrophysical laboratories to test and modify evolutionary models. Thought to be rather homogeneous in their local elemental Distribution of members, results suggest a wide variety of chemical peculiarities. Besides different main sequences, believed to be caused by different helium abundances, peculiarities of blue horizontal-branch stars and on the red giant branch were found. This whole zoo of peculiar objects has to be explained in the context of stellar formation and evolution. The tool of Delta a photometry is employed in order to detect peculiar stars in the whole spectral range. This three filter narrow band system measures the flux distribution in the region from 4900 to 5600A in order to find any peculiarities around 5200A. It is highly efficient to detect classical chemically peculiar stars of the upper main sequence, Be/Ae, shell and metal-weak objects in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds. We present Delta a photometry of 2266 stars from 109 individual frames for three globular Clusters (NGC 104, NGC 6205, and NGC 7099). A comparison with published abundances, for three horizontal-branch stars, only, yield an excellent agreement. According to the 3 sigma detection limit of each globular cluster, about 3% of the stars lie in abnormal regions in the diagnostic diagrams. The first observations of three widely different aggregates give very promising results, which will serve as a solid basis for follow-up observations including photometric as well as spectroscopic studies.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS, 443, 2492 (2014

Perturbative Yukawa theory at finite density: the role of masses and renormalization group flow at two loops

Yukawa theory at vanishing temperature provides (one of the ingredients for) an effective description of the thermodynamics of a variety of cold and dense fermionic systems. We study the role of masses and the renormalization group flow in the calculation of the equation of state up to two loops within the MSbar scheme. Two-loop integrals are computed analytically for arbitrary fermion and scalar masses, and expressed in terms of well-known special functions. The dependence of the renormalization group flow on the number of fermion flavors is also discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, uses package feynmp; v2: minor modifications, 1 reference added; matches published versio

Spanish adaptation of the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39 (SAQOL-39)

[Abstract] Aim. The stroke and aphasia quality of life scale-39 is an interviewer administered questionnaire that has been developed and validated in the United Kingdom to be applied to patients with chronic aphasia as a consequence of a stroke. The objective of this article was to translate the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life-39 Scale (SAQOL-39) into Spanish language, and evaluate its acceptability and reliability. Methods. The cross-cultural adaptation of the SAQOL- 39 into Spanish was carried out by following the translation and back-translation method. Twenty three patients with long-term aphasia due to stroke were tested. The patients were interviewed twice in a period from 2 to 12 days. The acceptability of the Spanish SAQOL- 39 was evaluated by examining the floor/ceiling effects and the missing data. The reliability was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha (internal consistence) and intraclass correlation coefficients (test-retest reliability) for the overall scale and its subdomains. Results. There were no difficulties to translate the original version into Spanish. There was good acceptability demonstrated by minimal missing data and floor/ceiling effects. Test-retest reliability for the overall score, and the subscales scores was 0.949 (0.854-0.944). Internal consistency analysis by Cronbach’s α was 0.950 (0.851-0.900). Conclusion. This small scale study provided preliminary evidence for the acceptability and reliability of the Spanish version of the SAQOL-39. Further testing in larger samples is needed to evaluate the validity of the scale, its sensitivity to change and to confirm its reliability