Nannochloropsis oculata: a safe protein feed for growing rats and rabbits

2012 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.The challenge to replace fossil fuels as the primary source of energy has been a long and complicated task. In recent years, following a historic increase in crude oil (>$100/barrel in 2008) the focus has been shifted to the use of microalgae as a source of oil for biofuel. The utilization of algae over other biofuel sources is advantageous as algae require less water and land than traditional crops. Some microalgae species can produce upwards of 10,000 gallons of oil per acre and when compared to corn which can produce ~18 gallons of ethanol per acre, algae becomes quite interesting. The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden, Colorado has been working diligently on utilizing algae as an energy source. In 2010, NREL explained that replacing all the gasoline in the U.S.A. with corn ethanol would require a corn field 1600 km2, while replacing all the gasoline in the U.S.A. with algae oil would (theoretically) take an area only 176 km2. One of the algae species that is being closely investigated as a source of oil is Nannochloropsis oculata, from the phylum Heterokontophyta. This algal species has oil content greater than 20$0.66/kg v. $0.69/kg). The algal meal could also be considered a potentially competitive source of energy compared to DDGs ($0.15/Mcal NEg v. $0.14/Mcal NEg). In summary, the utilization of oil-free algal meal from Nannochloropsis oculata can be considered a safe and possibly economic protein source for growing animals. In order to fully understand the potential of algal meal in livestock rations, more research needs to be conducted in metabolically different animals

Voices from the Back Stairs: Interpreting Servants\u27 Lives at Historic House Museums

Review of: "Voices From the Black Stairs: Interpreting Servants\u27 Lives at Historic House Museums," by Jennifer Pustz

Study of Selected Women's Dresses Worn in Oklahoma from 1889-1907 as Influenced by Certain Economic, Socio-Cultural, Religious, and Political Occurences of the Time

Clothing, Textiles, and Merchandisin

Exposure to Progressive Muscle Relaxation leads to Enhanced Performance on Derived Relational Responding Tasks.

Previous research has demonstrated that sleep significantly enhances the emergence of 2- but not 1-node derived relations following a 12-hour period. The present study investigated whether a highly truncated relaxation intervention in the form of an 11-minute Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) exercise would effect a similar enhancement in derived relational responding. Thirty-five participants were exposed to matching-to-sample training to establish stable baseline relations, from which 1- and 2-node equivalence relations were predicted. Participants were then randomly assigned to either a PMR group or one of two control groups; Simple or Conditional Discrimination task, followed by an equivalence test. Exposure to PMR resulted in significantly more accurate responses for both 1- and 2-node derived relations. The immediate and significant effects of the brief intervention on derived relational responding support the view that relaxation improves cognitive performance as indexed by the emergence of derived equivalence responding

Reconciling surveillance systems with limited resources: an evaluation of passive surveillance for rabies in an endemic setting

Surveillance systems for rabies in endemic regions are often subject to severe constraints in terms of resources. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) propose the use of an active surveillance system to substantiate claims of disease freedom, including rabies. However, many countries do not have the resources to establish active surveillance systems for rabies and the testing of dead dogs poses logistical challenges. This paper explores the potential of using a scenario tree model parameterised with data collected via questionnaires and interviews to estimate the sensitivity of passive surveillance, assessing its potential as a viable low-cost alternative to active surveillance systems. The results of this explorative study illustrated that given a large enough sample size, in this case the entire population of Colombo City, the sensitivity of passive surveillance can be 100% even at a low disease prevalence (0.1%), despite the low sensitivity of individual surveillance components (mean values in the range 4.077×10(-5)-1.834×10(-3) at 1% prevalence). In addition, logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with increased recognition of rabies in dogs and reporting of rabies suspect dogs. Increased recognition was observed amongst dog owners (OR 3.8 (CI, 1.3-10.8)), people previously bitten by dogs (OR 5.9 (CI, 2.2-15.9)) and people who believed they had seen suspect dogs in the past (OR 4.7 (CI, 1.8-12.9)). Increased likelihood of reporting suspect dogs was observed amongst dog owners (OR 5.3 (CI, 1.1-25)). Further work is required to validate the data collection tool and the assumptions made in the model with respect to sample size in order to develop a robust methodology for evaluating passive rabies surveillance

Noise-Induced Sleep Disturbance in Residences Near Two Civil Airports

A large-scale field study of noise-induced sleep disturbance was conducted in the vicinities of Stapleton International Airport (DEN) and Denver International Airport (DIA) in anticipation of the closure of the former and opening of the latter. Both indoor and outdoor measurements of aircraft and other nighttime noises were made during four time periods. Measurements were made in 57 homes located as close as feasible to the runway ends of the two airports. Sleep disturbance was measured by several indices of behaviorally confirmed awakening (button pushes upon awakening) and body movement (as measured with wrist-worn actimeters). A total of 2717 subject-nights of observations were made over the course of the study. Although average noise event levels measured outdoors decreased markedly at DEN after closure of the airport and increased slightly at DIA after its opening, indoor noise event levels varied much less in homes near both airports. No large differences were observed in noise-induced sleep disturbance at either airport. Indoor sound exposure levels of noise events were, however, closely related to and good predictors of actimetrically defined motility and arousal