The interactive effects of high-fiber diets and Ractopamine HCl on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, carcass fat quality, and intestinal weights

In previous research, feeding pigs high amounts of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and wheat middlings (midds) has been shown to reduce carcass yield and negatively affect iodine value (IV). The influence of Ractopamine HCl (RAC; Paylean, Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield, IN) on this response is not known; therefore, a total of 575 finishing pigs (PIC 327 × 1050, initially 123 lb) were used in two consecutive 73-d trials to determine the effects of DDGS and midds (high fiber) withdrawal 24 d before harvest in diets with or without RAC on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, and fat quality. From d 0 to 49, pigs were allotted to 1 of 2 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design based on initial pen weight. The dietary treatments included a corn-soybean meal–based control diet or diets with 30% DDGS and 19% wheat midds. Twelve pens of pigs were fed the corn-soybean meal control diet, and 24 pens were fed the high-fiber diet. During this 49 d period, pigs fed the corn-soybean meal diets had improved (P < 0.0001) ADG and F/G compared with those fed the high-fiber diets. On d 49, pens of pigs were re-allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments; pigs remained on the corn-soybean meal diets, switched from the high-fiber diet to corn-soybean meal (withdrawal diet), or were maintained on the high-fiber diet. These 3 regimens were fed with or without 9 g/ton RAC

Radiation protection training for diverse general employee populations

Radiation protection training for the general employee at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has undergone a great deal of restructuring in the last two years. The number of personnel totally dedicated to nuclear facilities is less than a fifth of our employees and the percentage of contracted employees who are dedicated radiation workers is much smaller. However, the aging of our facilities and increasing emphasis on environmental control means that everyone needs to understand the basics of radiation protection. In accordance with changing DOE guidelines and internal ORNL policies, greater emphasis has been placed on keeping training focused on current issues, training the total workforce, and requiring some type of testing or feedback mechanism. This report describes efforts to instill respect, but not fear, of radiation in the work environment. Flexible tools are being developed to meet this objective for several diverse general employee populations. Continuing efforts include consideration of computer-based training for retraining, developing additional modules for specialized groups and jobs, and testing/documentation appropriate to each population segment. 6 refs

Measuring auditory cortical responses in Tursiops truncatus

Financial support was provided by the Office of Naval Research Code 32 (Mine Countermeasures, Acoustics Phenomenology and Modeling Group), and funded by ONR grants N00014-18-1-2062, N00014-19-1-1223, N00014-18-1-2069, and N00014-20-1-2709.Auditory neuroscience in dolphins has largely focused on auditory brainstem responses; however, such measures reveal little about the cognitive processes dolphins employ during echolocation and acoustic communication. The few previous studies of mid- and long-latency auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs) in dolphins report different latencies, polarities, and magnitudes. These inconsistencies may be due to any number of differences in methodology, but these studies do not make it clear which methodological differences may account for the disparities. The present study evaluates how electrode placement and pre-processing methods affect mid- and long-latency AEPs in (Tursiops truncatus). AEPs were measured when reference electrodes were placed on the skin surface over the forehead, the external auditory meatus, or the dorsal surface anterior to the dorsal fin. Data were pre-processed with or without a digital 50-Hz low-pass filter, and the use of independent component analysis to isolate signal components related to neural processes from other signals. Results suggest that a meatus reference electrode provides the highest quality AEP signals for analyses in sensor space, whereas a dorsal reference yielded nominal improvements in component space. These results provide guidance for measuring cortical AEPs in dolphins, supporting future studies of their cognitive auditory processing.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Meta-analyses describing the variables that influence the backfat, belly fat, and jowl fat iodine value of pork carcasses

Concern about the quality of pork fat has increased in the United States over the last decade, largely because of the increased availability and use of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) in swine diets. The iodine value (IV) of pork fat is commonly used as an indicator of quality. To identify the factors associated with carcass fat IV, meta-analyses were conducted to describe the relevant variables and to develop prediction equations to assist swine nutritionists and producers in producing pork fat with an acceptable IV. Data from 21 experiments were used to develop prediction equations for carcass fat IV of pigs fed a relatively constant dietary iodine value product (IVP) throughout the feeding period, and 6 experiments were used to develop prediction equations for carcass fat IV of pigs fed a dietary IVP-reduction strategy before marketing. Backfat, belly fat, and jowl fat IV were all highly correlated among the experiments that measured the IV of the multiple fat depots (r ≥ 0.880; P < 0.001). As expected, the dietary concentrations of unsaturated (primarily polyunsaturated) fatty acids were the most important in predicting carcass fat IV. However, improved prediction models were achieved by including variables to describe the pigs’ initial and final BW, ADG, and carcass leanness. Increased ADG, final BW, BW range over course of the diet, and backfat depth resulted in reduced backfat IV (P < 0.02). Belly fat IV was also reduced with increasing final BW, BW range over course of the diet, and backfat depth (P < 0.03). A reduced jowl fat IV was associated with an increase in backfat depth and a lower fat-free lean index (FFLI, P < 0.02). Data analyzed to develop equations for predicting carcass fat IV using a dietary IVP-reduction strategy indicated that the concentrations of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids in the initial diet were the most important. The concentrations of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids in the reduced- IVP diet fed before marketing were also important in predicting the IV of carcass fat. However, the IV of backfat was the most amenable to change using an IVP-reduction strategy. Feeding the pigs for a longer period and to a heavier final BW resulted in a reduced backfat IV (P ≤ 0.05). These results indicate that, although primarily determined by dietary factors, an understanding of the other variables that influence the IV of pork fat is necessary to reduce the likelihood of concerns with pork fat quality

A Two-Dimensional Hydrostatically Equilibrium Atmosphere of a Neutron Star with Given Differential Rotation

An analytic solution has been found in the Roche approximation for the axially symmetric structure of a hydrostatically equilibrium atmosphere of a neutron star produced by collapse. A hydrodynamic (quasione-dimensional) model for the collapse of a rotating iron core in a massive star gives rise to a heterogeneous rotating protoneutron star with an extended atmosphere composed of matter from the outer part of the iron core with differential rotation (Imshennik and Nadyozhin, 1992). The equation of state of a completely degenerate iron gas with an arbitrary degree of relativity is taken for the atmospheric matter. We construct a family of toroidal model atmospheres with total masses $M \approx 0.1 \div 0.2 M_{\odot}$ and total angular momenta $J \approx (1 \div 5.5) \cdot 10^{49} erg \cdot s$, which are acceptable for the outer part of the collapsed iron core, in accordance with the hydrodynamic model, as a function of constant parameters $\omega_{0} and r_{0}$ of the specified differential rotation law $\Omega = \omega_{0}\exp{\Big[-\frac{(r\sin{\Theta})^{2}}{r_{0}^{2}}\Big]}$ in spherical coordinates. The assumed rotation law is also qualitatively consistent with the hydrodynamic model for the collapse of an iron core.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Auditory oddball responses in Tursiops truncatus

Funding: Financial support was provided by the Office of Naval Research Code 32 (Mine Countermeasures, Acoustics Phenomenology and Modeling Group), and funded by ONR Grant Nos. N00014-18-1-2062, N00014-19-1-1223, N00014-18-1-2069, and N00014-20-1-2709.Two previous studies suggest that bottlenose dolphins exhibit an “oddball” auditory evoked potential (AEP) to stimulus trains where one of two stimuli has a low probability of occurrence relative to another. However, they reported oddball AEPs at widely different latency ranges (50 vs 500 ms). The present work revisited this experiment in a single dolphin to report the AEPs in response to two tones each assigned probabilities of 0.2, 0.8, and 1 across sessions. The AEP was further isolated from background EEG using independent component analysis, and showed condition effects in the 40-60 ms latency range.Peer reviewe

Gravitational Radiation from Rotational Instabilities in Compact Stellar Cores with Stiff Equations of State

We carry out 3-D numerical simulations of the dynamical instability in rapidly rotating stars initially modeled as polytropes with n = 1.5, 1.0, and 0.5. The calculations are done with a SPH code using Newtonian gravity, and the gravitational radiation is calculated in the quadrupole limit. All models develop the global m=2 bar mode, with mass and angular momentum being shed from the ends of the bar in two trailing spiral arms. The models then undergo successive episodes of core recontraction and spiral arm ejection, with the number of these episodes increasing as n decreases: this results in longer-lived gravitational wave signals for stiffer models. This instability may operate in a stellar core that has expended its nuclear fuel and is prevented from further collapse due to centrifugal forces. The actual values of the gravitational radiation amplitudes and frequencies depend sensitively on the radius of the star R_{eq} at which the instability develops.Comment: 39 pages, uses Latex 2.09. To be published in the Dec. 15, 1996 issue of Physical Review D. 21 figures (bitmapped). Originals available in compressed Postscript format at ftp://zonker.drexel.edu/papers/bars

Lamp spectrum and spatial brightness at photopic levels: A basis for developing a metric

Light sources are available in a variety of spectral power distributions (SPDs) and this affects spatial brightness in a manner not predicted by quantities such as illuminance. Tuning light source SPD to better match the sensitivity of visual perception may allow the same spatial brightness but at lower illuminance with potential reductions in energy consumption. Consideration of experimental design was used to review 70 studies of spatial brightness. Of these, the 19 studies considered to provide credible evidence of SPD effects were used to explore metrics for predicting the effect of SPD but did not provide conclusive evidence of a suitable metric, in part because of incomplete reporting of SPD characteristics. For future work, these data provide an independent database for validating proposed metrics

Comparison of advanced gravitational-wave detectors

We compare two advanced designs for gravitational-wave antennas in terms of their ability to detect two possible gravitational wave sources. Spherical, resonant mass antennas and interferometers incorporating resonant sideband extraction (RSE) were modeled using experimentally measurable parameters. The signal-to-noise ratio of each detector for a binary neutron star system and a rapidly rotating stellar core were calculated. For a range of plausible parameters we found that the advanced LIGO interferometer incorporating RSE gave higher signal-to-noise ratios than a spherical detector resonant at the same frequency for both sources. Spheres were found to be sensitive to these sources at distances beyond our galaxy. Interferometers were sensitive to these sources at far enough distances that several events per year would be expected