Resource efficiency and economic implications of alternatives to surgical castration without anaesthesia

This paper presents an analysis of the economic implications of alternative methods to surgical castration without anaesthesia. Detailed research results on the economic implications of four different alternatives are reported. castration with local anaesthesia, castration with general anaesthesia, immunocastration and raising entire males. The first three alternatives have been assessed for their impact on pig production costs in the most important pig-producing Member States of the EU. The findings on castration with anaesthesia show that cost differences among farms increase if the anaesthesia cannot be administered by farmers and when the veterinarian has to be called to perform it. The cost of veterinarian service largely affects the total average costs, making this solution economically less feasible in small-scale pig farms. In all other farms, the impact on production costs of local anaesthesia is however limited and does not exceed 1 (sic)ct per kg. General anaesthesia administered by inhalation or injection of Ketamin in combination with a sedative (Azaperone, Midazolan) is more expensive. These costs depend heavily on farm size, as the inhalation equipment has to be depreciated on the largest number of pigs possible. The overall costs of immunocastration - including the cost of the work load for the farmer - has to be evaluated against the potential benefits derived from higher daily weight gain and feed efficiency in comparison with surgical castrates. The economic feasibility of this practice will finally depend on the price of the vaccine and on consumer acceptance of immunocastration, The improvement in feed efficiency may compensate almost entirely for the cost of vaccination. The main advantages linked to raising entire males are due to the higher efficiency of feed conversion, to the better growth rate and to the higher leanness of carcass. A higher risk of boar taint on the slaughter line has to be accounted for Raising entire males should not generate more than 2.5% of boar taint among slaughter pigs, in order to maintain the considerable economic benefits of better feed efficiency of entire males with respect to castrates

Topological code Autotune

Many quantum systems are being investigated in the hope of building a large-scale quantum computer. All of these systems suffer from decoherence, resulting in errors during the execution of quantum gates. Quantum error correction enables reliable quantum computation given unreliable hardware. Unoptimized topological quantum error correction (TQEC), while still effective, performs very suboptimally, especially at low error rates. Hand optimizing the classical processing associated with a TQEC scheme for a specific system to achieve better error tolerance can be extremely laborious. We describe a tool Autotune capable of performing this optimization automatically, and give two highly distinct examples of its use and extreme outperformance of unoptimized TQEC. Autotune is designed to facilitate the precise study of real hardware running TQEC with every quantum gate having a realistic, physics-based error model.Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures, version accepted for publicatio

The conceptus induces a switch in protein expression and activities of superoxide dismutase 1 and 2 in the sheep endometrium during early pregnancy

Acknowledgements We thank Philippe Bolifraud (INRA, France), Krawiec Angele, Sandra Grange, Laurence Puillet-Anselme (CHU Grenoble, France) and Margaret Fraser (Aberdeen, UK) for their expert technical assistance. The authors also thank the staff of the sheep sheds of Jouy-en-Josas (INRA, France). The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their close examination of this article and their useful comments. Funding This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.Peer reviewedPostprin

Letter from W. K. Fowler

Letter concerning programs of domestic science and art in Nebraska

Enhancing Writer\u27s Voice in Argumentative and Expository Essay Writing Using the Embedded Voice Technique

The purpose of this action research study was to examine the impact that the Embedded Voice Technique of writing instruction had on one’s writer’s voice. The teacher-researcher posits that voice is not an individual component of writing, but rather a culmination of multiple components of writing; it is the sum of parts rather than a part in and of itself. The study took place in an English 3-Honors class with nine randomly chosen participants over an eight-week period. Data were collected using a variety of data collection instruments. Pre and post-treatment Likert scale surveys determinee participants’ dispositions regarding writing. Pre and post-treatment questionnaires generated additional insights. Pre and post-treatment interviews were established from the questionnaire responses and teacher-researcher interest. Participant artifacts were collected throughout the study. These were the result of guided practice activities that were designed to intentionally build voice in student writing and were assessed and peer-reviewed using a teacher-researcher created essay rubric. The final data-collection tool utilized was teacher-researcher observations. As a result of the study, findings support the claim, that the Embedded Voice Technique can enhance writer’s voice and links writing ability and writer’s voice to writing confidence/efficacy and peer interactions

The effects of accelerated soil acidification on aggrading temperate deciduous forests: The Fernow Experimental Forest Long Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) Study at 13 years

Many temperate forests in the Eastern US are young and have experienced decades of elevated inputs of acidic compounds from the atmosphere. As a result, I used the Fernow Experimental Forest Long Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) experiment near Parsons, WV to determine how ongoing acidic deposition may affect total ecosystem carbon (C) storage, stand level dynamics, and soil and foliar chemistry in a young regrowing temperate deciduous forest. I also assessed the potential for acidic deposition effects to cascade up into higher trophic levels through its effects on a soil invertebrate. The LTSP experiment is a randomized block design in which ammonium sulfate is experimentally added to the soil in order to accelerate the acidification of forest soils in a way that is similar to the effects of long-term nitrogen (N) deposition from the atmosphere.;I found that 13 years of ammonium sulfate additions to a regenerating deciduous forest stimulated its ability to store C. This response was driven primarily by increased C storage in aboveground biomass and to a lesser extent by increased C stored in the forest floor. Despite the dominance of a single tree species, the overall response was a complex mixture of species-specific changes in the growth of individuals that may have been tempered by changes in stand density. I also found that after 10 years of growth with continual N and S additions, soil and foliar chemistry in an aggrading temperate deciduous forest show signs of soil acidification and calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) depletion -- suggesting that the ability of these regenerating forests to store C may diminish if acidification were to continue. Additionally, I found that liming may mitigate some of the negative impacts of acidification for experimental or management purposes. Finally, I also found that Pseudopolydesmus serratus millipedes, leaf litter processing invertebrates that contain high levels of Ca, are negatively affected by 13 years of simulated acidic deposition in temperate deciduous forests. The negative effect of N addition on millipede populations, however, could not be tied to a depletion of Ca from the soil and plants but, if widespread, could affect the Ca supply to organisms, like some bird species, that have high Ca requirements during critical stages in their life.;Overall, this research suggests that young regrowing temperate deciduous forests may currently be sequestering more C due to inputs of N from acidic deposition. However, the positive response may involve species specific and stand-level changes and may be short-lived due to soil acidification effects, which should proceed, or co-occur with, reductions in growth rates. The effects of N deposition may also potentially reach higher trophic levels such as consumers of P. serratus, whose populations were negatively affected by N inputs

Modelling Organic Dairy Production Systems

In this study, a large number of organic dairy production strategies were compared in terms of physical and financial performance through the integrated use of computer simulation models and organic case study farm data. Production and financial data from three organic case study farms were used as a basis for the modelling process to ensure that the modelled systems were based on real sets of resources that might be available to a farmer. The case study farms were selected to represent a range of farming systems in terms of farm size, concentrate use and location. This paper describes the process used to model the farm systems: the integration of the three models used and the use of indicators to assess the modelled farm systems in terms of physical sustainability and financial performance