DierenWelzijnsWeb: met meer kennis beter doen

De nieuwe website www.DierenWelzijnsWeb.nl bundelt vanaf 1 september 2008 de beschikbare kennis over dierenwelzij

The effect of optimized lighting conditions on feather pecking and production of laying hens

Feather pecking is one of the major problems in commercially kept laying hens. The current research considers the relevance of colour of light in the feather pecking problem

Natuurlijker kunstlicht

Philips Lightning heeft lampen ontwikkeld met ultraviolet A-licht als remedie tegen verenpikken. Livestock Research heeft ontdekt dat het pas werkt in een rijke omgeving

Dierbare metgezellen : Domeinbeschrijving Dierenwelzijn

Dierenwelzijn is een complex thema met wetenschappelijke, ethische en maatschappelijke invalshoeken. Om dit thema beter voor het onderwijs toegankelijk te maken hebben Stichting Veldwerk Nederland, het lectoraat Welzijn van Dieren van de Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein en de Christelijke Agrarische Hogeschool Dronten de domeinbeschrijving Dierbare metgezellen gemaakt. De beschrijving over dierenwelzijn is bedoeld voor iedereen die te maken heeft met het onderwijs aan kinderen en jongeren in de leeftijd van vier tot veertien jaar

Deforestation: Correlations, Possible Causes and Some Implications

Changes in national forest areas during 1990-2000 are contrasted with other variables to illustrate correlations and provoke discussion about possible causes. Twenty-five statistically-significant correlations (including rural population, life expectancy, GDP, literacy, commerce, agriculture, poverty and inflation) are illustrated and a statistical model suggests that good governance, alternative employment opportunities, and payments for environmental services may be effective in combating deforestation. The data suggest that a global forest convention may need to be supported by substantial and carefully-targeted development assistance to foster good governance

Probing the MSSM Higgs Boson Sector with Explicit CP Violation through Third Generation Fermion Pair Production at Muon Colliders

We perform a systematic study of the production of a third-generation fermion-pair, $\mu^+\mu^-\to f\bar{f}$ for $f=\tau^-,b$, and t in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with explicit CP violation, which is induced radiatively by soft trilinear interactions related to squarks of the third generation. We classify all the observables for probing the CP property of the Higgs bosons constructed by the initial muon beam polarization along with the unpolarized final fermions and with the final-fermion polarization configuration of equal helicity, respectively. The observables allow for complete determination of CP property of the neutral Higgs bosons. The interference between the Higgs boson and gauge boson contributions also could provide a powerful method for the determination of the CP property of two heavy Higgs bosons in the top-quark pair production near the energy region of the Higgs-boson resonances. For the lightest Higgs-boson mass there is no sizable interference between scalar and vector contributions for the determination of the CP property of the lightest Higgs boson. We give a detailed numerical analysis to show how the radiatively-induced CP violation in the Higgs sector of the MSSM can be measured.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures including 5 eps ones. Typos corrected and references added. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Small but crucial : the novel small heat shock protein Hsp21 mediates stress adaptation and virulence in Candida albicans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Deep sequencing reveals persistence of cell-associated mumps vaccine virus in chronic encephalitis.

Routine childhood vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella has virtually abolished virus-related morbidity and mortality. Notwithstanding this, we describe here devastating neurological complications associated with the detection of live-attenuated mumps virus Jeryl Lynn (MuV(JL5)) in the brain of a child who had undergone successful allogeneic transplantation for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). This is the first confirmed report of MuV(JL5) associated with chronic encephalitis and highlights the need to exclude immunodeficient individuals from immunisation with live-attenuated vaccines. The diagnosis was only possible by deep sequencing of the brain biopsy. Sequence comparison of the vaccine batch to the MuV(JL5) isolated from brain identified biased hypermutation, particularly in the matrix gene, similar to those found in measles from cases of SSPE. The findings provide unique insights into the pathogenesis of paramyxovirus brain infections

Writing for Intercultural Growth on Study Abroad in Australia

For students participating in study abroad programs in seemingly familiar environs, ongoing cultural mentoring is critically important. This study looks at intercultural development using both the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and qualitative analysis of reflective writing assignments. U.S. participants in a semester-long faculty-led program in Australia experienced significant intercultural growth as measured by the IDI. Four writing prompts were analyzed in terms of how well they correlated with student IDI Developmental Orientation (DO) scores. Written reflection reveals how students write about intercultural issues at different developmental stages. Some writing prompts were found to facilitate intercultural development, allowing students to ‘write beyond’ their DO scores. While sojourners effectively wrote about cross-cultural issues pertaining to the host environment, more ethnocentric thinking was revealed when asked to reflect on cultural conflicts in their home community. The findings illustrate that significant intercultural growth is achievable in a culturally and linguistically similar host country, and that carefully designed reflective writing prompts can both illustrate and facilitate meaningful intercultural growth

No-till farming and greenhouse gas fluxes: Insights from literature and experimental data

Tillage intensity may differently impact gaseous losses of C and N to the atmosphere, but data from long-term experiments are relatively few. Yet, this information is needed to better understand C and N losses and gains in agricultural systems. The objective of this study was to determine how tillage intensity affects soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes (CO2, N2O, and CH4) by comparing experimental data from moldboard plow (MP), chisel plow (CP), double disk (DD), and no-till (NT) soils after 38–40 yr of management in a rainfed corn (Zea mays L.)- soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) cropping system. We also reviewed global literature to evaluate the impacts of tillage on soil GHG emissions. After 38–40 yr of management, CO2 fluxes decreased in this order: MP \u3e CP ≈ DD \u3e NT, indicating that as tillage intensity decreased, CO2 fluxes decreased. Indeed, daily CO2 fluxes were typically lower under NT than under MP and CP. Similarly, the overall cumulative CO2 fluxes across 26-mo of measurement were 1.4–1.8 times lower with NT than MP, CP, and DD soils. Also, MP soils had 1.3 times higher CO2 fluxes than CP and DD soils. These results are similar to those from our global literature review of 60 studies on CO2 fluxes. The reduction in CO2 fluxes in NT was likely due to a combination of increased residue cover, reduced soil temperature (r = 0.71; n = 12; p \u3c 0.001), and increased water content (r = 0.75; n = 12; p \u3c 0.001). Daily N2O and CH4 fluxes were highly variable; and cumulative fluxes across the 26-mo study were unaffected by tillage, mirroring findings of our literature review of 37 papers on N2O fluxes and 24 on CH4 fluxes. Overall, based on the data from both the long-term experiment and literature review, NT appears to be the best option to reduce losses of CO2 followed by reduced till (DD), but N2O and CH4 fluxes do not generally differ with tillage intensity