Using in situ technique to estimate nutrient availability of six barley varieties for ruminants

Non-Peer ReviewedBarley grains are as a main source of feed for ruminants in Canada. Although barley varieties have similar chemical composition, they exhibit different rumen degradation characteristics and nutrient availability. The objective of this study was to estimate nutrient availability of the six barley varieties using nylon bags incubated for 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 h in the rumen of dairy cow and determine the rumen degradation parameters of DM, CP and starch according to the first order degradation kinetics equation. The results indicated that the barley varieties showed different degradation rate (Kd) of DM, CP and starch during incubation period. CDC Trey was the highest (P<0.05) in effective degradability of DM (498.04g/kg) while AC Metcalfe showed the highest (P<0.05) effective degradability of CP (63.06g/kg) and starch (344.82g/kg) compared with other barley varieties. CDC Helgason had the largest size of rumen undegradable fraction of DM (640.21g/kg), CP (83.85g/kg, NRC 2001 model) and starch (321.85g/kg). Feeds degradation features from this study involved nutrients utilization in ruminant digestive systems. Further study to investigate and compare the structural/chemical make-up characteristics between barley varieties may provide more information as to why barley varieties exhibit different biodegradation behaviors

Hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare l.) with altered starch traits: rumen degradation kinetics

Non-Peer ReviewedThe objective of this study was to determine the effect of new hulless barley lines (zero-amylose waxy, CDC Fibar; 5%-amylose waxy, CDC Rattan; normal-amylose, CDC McGwire and high-amylose, HB08302) on rumen degradation kinetics and in vitro intestinal nutrient digestion with CDC Copeland included as a hulled control. Three dry Holstein cows fitted with rumen cannula were used for measuring rumen degradation of barley varieties. The estimation of intestinal digestion was determined by a modification of the three-step in vitro procedure described by Calsamiglia and Stern with duplicate of each in situ residue. Among the hulless barley lines, CDC Rattan was greater (P<0.05) in effectively degradable starch (EDST: 461 g/kg DM) but reduced (P<0.05) in rumen undegradable protein (RUP: 55g/kg DM) while CDC Fibar was greater (P<0.05) in effectively degradable crude protein (EDCP: 90 g/kg DM) and total digestible protein (TDP: 147 g/kg DM) than other hulless barley lines. CDC McGwire showed greater (P<0.05) in total digestible bypass starch (TDST: 590 g/kg DM), effectively degradable CHO (EDCHO: 581 g/kg DM) and total digestible CHO (TDCHO: 600 g/kg DM) than other hulless barley lines but no significant difference compared to CDC Copeland (P>0.05). HB08302 was greater (P<0.05) in rumen bypass starch (BST: 218 g/kg DM vs. 146 g/kg DM and 155 g/kg DM) and effective degradable NDF (EDNDF: 74 g/kg DM vs. 49 g/kg DM and 52 g/kg DM) than CDC Fibar and CDC Rattan. HB08302 was also greater in total digestible NDF (TDNDF: 93 g/kg DM vs. 62 g/kg DM and 67 g/kg DM) and intestinal digestible rumen bypass starch (IDBST: 180 g/kg DM vs. 122 g/kg DM and 130 g/kg DM) compared to CDC Fibar and CDC McGwire. HB08302 also showed greater (P<0.05) in bypass CHO (BCHO: 179 g/kg DM) and intestinal digestible bypass CHO (IDBCHO: 31 g/kg DM) than other hulless barley lines. Amylose and amylopectin were significantly correlated (P<0.001) to EDCP (r=-0.71, r=0.64) and TDP (r=-0.85; r=0.77), while amylose, ratio of amylose and amylopectin were positively correlated (P<0.01) to EDNDF, TDNDF, BST, IDBST and TDCHO (P<0.05). BCP, IDP, TDP, BNDF were positively correlated to beta-glucan levels (P<0.001) while EDST, TDST, EDCHO and TDCHO were negatively correlated to beta-glucan levels in hulless barley lines (P<0.01). in conclusion hulless barley lines with altered carbohydrate traits have the potential to increase rumen and intestinal nutrient availability to ruminants. Altered beta-glucan levels had a greater effect on rumen carbohydrates and crude protein degradation than altered starch traits

Cloud-Based Speech Technology for Assistive Technology Applications (CloudCAST)

The CloudCAST platform provides a series of speech recognition services that can be integrated into assistive technology applications. The platform and the services provided by the public API are described. Several exemplar applications have been developed to demonstrate the platform to potential developers and users

An innovative speech-based user interface for smarthomes and IoT solutions to help people with speech and motor disabilities

A better use of the increasing functional capabilities of home automation systems and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to support the needs of users with disability, is the subject of a research project currently conducted by Area Ausili (Assistive Technology Area), a department of Polo Tecnologico Regionale Corte Roncati of the Local Health Trust of Bologna (Italy), in collaboration with AIAS Ausilioteca Assistive Technology (AT) Team. The main aim of the project is to develop experimental low cost systems for environmental control through simplified and accessible user interfaces. Many of the activities are focused on automatic speech recognition and are developed in the framework of the CloudCAST project. In this paper we report on the first technical achievements of the project and discuss future possible developments and applications within and outside CloudCAST

Alpha oscillations related to self-other integration and distinction during live orchestral performance: a naturalistic case study

Ensemble music performance requires musicians to achieve precise interpersonal coordination while maintaining autonomous control over their own actions. To do so, musicians dynamically shift between integrating other performers’ actions into their own action plans and maintaining a distinction between their own and others’ actions. Research in laboratory settings has shown that this dynamic process of self-other integration and distinction is indexed by sensorimotor alpha oscillations. The purpose of the current descriptive case study was to examine oscillations related to self-other integration and distinction in a naturalistic performance context. We measured alpha activity from four violinists during a concert hall performance of a 60-musician orchestra. We selected a musical piece from the orchestra’s repertoire and, before analyzing alpha activity, performed a score analysis to divide the piece into sections that were expected to strongly promote self-other integration and distinction. In line with previous laboratory findings, performers showed suppressed and enhanced alpha activity during musical sections that promoted self-other integration and distinction, respectively. The current study thus provides preliminary evidence that findings from carefully controlled laboratory experiments generalize to complex real-world performance. Its findings also suggest directions for future research and potential applications of interest to musicians, music educators, and music therapists

Synchronization and Coarsening (without SOC) in a Forest-Fire Model

We study the long-time dynamics of a forest-fire model with deterministic tree growth and instantaneous burning of entire forests by stochastic lightning strikes. Asymptotically the system organizes into a coarsening self-similar mosaic of synchronized patches within which trees regrow and burn simultaneously. We show that the average patch length grows linearly with time as t-->oo. The number density of patches of length L, N(L,t), scales as ^{-2}M(L/), and within a mean-field rate equation description we find that this scaling function decays as e^{-1/x} for x-->0, and as e^{-x} for x-->oo. In one dimension, we develop an event-driven cluster algorithm to study the asymptotic behavior of large systems. Our numerical results are consistent with mean-field predictions for patch coarsening.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2-column revtex format. To be submitted to PR