1,524 research outputs found
Effect of organic pig production systems on performance and meat quality
The present study was carried out to establish knowledge of consequence for setting up guidelines of importance for production of competitive organic pork of high quality. Performance and meat quality characteristics were compared between three organic pig production systems based on indoor housing with access to an outdoor area and a Danish conventional indoor system including 100% concentrate during the finishing feeding stage.
The three organic systems used the following three feeding regimes: 100% organic concentrate according to Danish recommendations, 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic barley/pea silage and 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic clover grass silage, respectively. With exception of a slightly lower daily gain in organic pigs fed 100% concentrate, no significant difference was found in performance and meat quality characteristics compared with results obtained in the conventional system. In contrast and independent of roughage used, organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate had a significant reduction in daily gain (P < 0.001) compared with pigs raised on 100% concentrate, despite the fact that no difference in feed conversion rate was seen between the tested production systems. However, the percentage of leanness increased significantly in meat from organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate plus roughage compared with meat from pigs given 100% concentrate. This was reflected in higher yield (weight) of lean cuts and lower yield of cuts with high fat content from pigs fed 70% concentrate plus roughage. In general, organic feeding resulted in a significantly higher content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the back fat (1.8%), which increased further when restricted feeding plus roughage (4%) was used. Restricted concentrate feeding gave rise to a decrease in tenderness compared with pork from pigs fed 100% concentrate
Mean Field Theory of Sandpile Avalanches: from the Intermittent to the Continuous Flow Regime
We model the dynamics of avalanches in granular assemblies in partly filled
rotating cylinders using a mean-field approach. We show that, upon varying the
cylinder angular velocity , the system undergoes a hysteresis cycle
between an intermittent and a continuous flow regimes. In the intermittent flow
regime, and approaching the transition, the avalanche duration exhibits
critical slowing down with a temporal power-law divergence. Upon adding a white
noise term, and close to the transition, the distribution of avalanche
durations is also a power-law. The hysteresis, as well as the statistics of
avalanche durations, are in good qualitative agreement with recent experiments
in partly filled rotating cylinders.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 3.0, postscript figures 1, 3 and 4 appended
Influence of the obesogenic/leptogenic food environment on consumer behaviour in leisure centres
Vortex Dynamics and Defects in Simulated Flux Flow
We present the results of molecular dynamic simulations of a two-dimensional
vortex array driven by a uniform current through random pinning centers at zero
temperature. We identify two types of flow of the driven array near the
depinning threshold. For weak disorder the flux array contains few dislocation
and moves via correlated displacements of patches of vortices in a {\it
crinkle} motion. As the disorder strength increases, we observe a crossover to
a spatially inhomogeneous regime of {\it plastic} flow, with a very defective
vortex array and a channel-like structure of the flowing regions. The two
regimes are characterized by qualitatively different spatial distribution of
vortex velocities. In the crinkle regime the distribution of vortex velocities
near threshold has a single maximum that shifts to larger velocities as the
driving force is increased. In the plastic regime the distribution of vortex
velocities near threshold has a clear bimodal structure that persists upon
time-averaging the individual velocities. The bimodal structure of the velocity
distribution reflects the coexistence of pinned and flowing regions and is
proposed as a quantitative signature of plastic flow.Comment: 12 pages, 13 embedded PostScript figure
Elastic Chain in a Random Potential: Simulation of the Displacement Function and Relaxation
We simulate the low temperature behaviour of an elastic chain in a random
potential where the displacements are confined to the {\it longitudinal}
direction ( parallel to ) as in a one dimensional charge density
wave--type problem. We calculate the displacement correlation function and the size dependent average square displacement
. We find that with
at short distances and at intermediate
distances. We cannot resolve the asymptotic long distance dependence of
upon . For the system sizes considered we find with . The exponent is in agreement
with the Random Manifold exponent obtained from replica calculations and the
exponent is consistent with an exact solution for the chain
with {\it transverse} displacements ( perpendicular to ).The
distribution of nearest distances between pinning wells and chain-particles is
found to develop forbidden regions.Comment: 19 pages of LaTex, 6 postscript figures available on request,
submitted to Journal of Physics A, MAJOR CHANGE
Safety and Efficacy of Everolimus in Adult Patients with Neuroendocrine Tumors
Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) consist of a diverse family of tumors which are derived from the neuroendocrine system. Most NETs are well or moderately differentiated tumors with a relatively indolent growth pattern. However, these tumors can cause significant clinical disease due to release of functional products that mediate the carcinoid syndrome and other diverse sequela. They also can grow progressively and cause symptoms from local invasion or distant metastasis. NETs are optimally treated with surgery and somatosatin analogs (SSA’s) to control symptoms but are relatively insensitive to systemic chemotherapy. As a result, patients with advanced unresectable NETs have a poor prognosis. In 2011, two targeted therapies, sunitinib and everolimus were approved in the subset of progressive pancreatic NETs (pNETs). Everolimus is an oral inhibitor of the growth stimulatory mTOR pathway. In Phase 2 trials in NETs and pNETs, everolimus was well tolerated and associated with some response and widespread disease stabilization. In follow-up, randomized Phase 3 trials, everolimus was compared to placebo. In the RADIANT-2 trial, everolimus and a somatostatin analog were used in patients with functional NETs and treatment was associated with an an improvement in progression-free survival (PFS). In the RADIANT-3 trial, patients with pNET were randomized to receive everolimus or placebo along with best supportive care. Everolimus was again associated with improvement in PFS compared to placebo and it has been approved by the FDA for patients with progressive pNET. Everolimus is associated with frequent low grade toxicity but is also notable for increased rates of infection as well as non-infectious pneumonitis. mTOR inhibition with everolimus represents a significant advance in the treatment of advanced neuroendocrine tumors
Interacting Random Walkers and Non-Equilibrium Fluctuations
We introduce a model of interacting Random Walk, whose hopping amplitude
depends on the number of walkers/particles on the link. The mesoscopic
counterpart of such a microscopic dynamics is a diffusing system whose
diffusivity depends on the particle density. A non-equilibrium stationary flux
can be induced by suitable boundary conditions, and we show indeed that it is
mesoscopically described by a Fourier equation with a density dependent
diffusivity. A simple mean-field description predicts a critical diffusivity if
the hopping amplitude vanishes for a certain walker density. Actually, we
evidence that, even if the density equals this pseudo-critical value, the
system does not present any criticality but only a dynamical slowing down. This
property is confirmed by the fact that, in spite of interaction, the particle
distribution at equilibrium is simply described in terms of a product of
Poissonians. For mesoscopic systems with a stationary flux, a very effect of
interaction among particles consists in the amplification of fluctuations,
which is especially relevant close to the pseudo-critical density. This agrees
with analogous results obtained for Ising models, clarifying that larger
fluctuations are induced by the dynamical slowing down and not by a genuine
criticality. The consistency of this amplification effect with altered coloured
noise in time series is also proved.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Topological Defects, Orientational Order, and Depinning of the Electron Solid in a Random Potential
We report on the results of molecular dynamics simulation (MD) studies of the
classical two-dimensional electron crystal in the presence disorder. Our study
is motivated by recent experiments on this system in modulation doped
semiconductor systems in very strong magnetic fields, where the magnetic length
is much smaller than the average interelectron spacing , as well as by
recent studies of electrons on the surface of helium. We investigate the low
temperature state of this system using a simulated annealing method. We find
that the low temperature state of the system always has isolated dislocations,
even at the weakest disorder levels investigated. We also find evidence for a
transition from a hexatic glass to an isotropic glass as the disorder is
increased. The former is characterized by quasi-long range orientational order,
and the absence of disclination defects in the low temperature state, and the
latter by short range orientational order and the presence of these defects.
The threshold electric field is also studied as a function of the disorder
strength, and is shown to have a characteristic signature of the transition.
Finally, the qualitative behavior of the electron flow in the depinned state is
shown to change continuously from an elastic flow to a channel-like, plastic
flow as the disorder strength is increased.Comment: 31 pages, RevTex 3.0, 15 figures upon request, accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev. B., HAF94MD
Dynamic transition in driven vortices across the peak effect in superconductors
We study the zero-temperature dynamic transition from the disordered flow to
an ordered flow state in driven vortices in type-II superconductors. The
transition current is marked by a sharp kink in the
characteristic with a concomitant large increase in the defect concentration.
On increasing magnetic field , the follows the behaviour of the
critical current . Specifically, in the peak effect regime
increases rapidly along with . We also discuss the effect of varying
disorder strength on .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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