The effect of sex and age at slaughter on some carcass and meat quality traits of Boer kids

This study investigated some carcass and meat quality traits of Boer kids (17 male and 17 female) at two different average slaughter ages (83 and 139 days). Jointed cuts of half carcasses arranged from the greatest to the smallest were: hind leg (28.5%), rib and flank (21.2%), shoulder (19.3%), back (8.5%), loin (7.9%), neck (7.6%) and chuck (3.4%). Male kids had significantly higher percentage of the neck cuts (p≤0.001) while females had significantly higher percentage of rib and flank cuts (p≤0.05). At higher slaughter ages neck (p≤0.05) and chuck (p≤0.001) percentages significantly decreased and rib and flank (p≤0.001) percentage significantly increased. On average, hind leg had 72.2 % of muscle, 8.6 % of fat and 18.8 % of bone. Female kids had higher muscle and lower bone hind leg content than males (p≤0.01). Hind leg bone content significantly decreased at higher slaughter age (p≤0.01). Meat from male kids displayed significantly higher cie L*(p≤0.001) and b*(p≤0.05) values than females. At higher slaughter age L* values significantly decreased (p≤0.01) while a* and b* values significantly increased (p≤0.001; p≤0.01)

INBREEDING AND INBREEDING DEPRESSION IN SLOVENIAN HOLSTEIN POPULATION

Analysis of inbreeding and inbreeding depression was done on the data of routine breeding value estimation for milk production data on Holstein population in Slovenia. A pedigree file of 106 433 animals born from 1952 to 2005 was investigated for the occurrence of inbreeding. The maximum inbreeding was 37.5. However average inbreeding coefficients of inbred cows (1.3 %) and of all cows with test day records (0.989 %) were low. Daily milk, protein, and fat yield of first five lactation for 86 122 cows were analyzed. Inbreeding was included in the animal model as a linear covariate. The regression coefficients of milk, fat, and protein yield, multiplied with 305 days present inbreeding depression of lactation yields, were -22.17 kg, -0.601 kg and -0.387 kg respectively, for 1 % of inbreeding

Contextuality without nonlocality in a superconducting quantum system.

Classical realism demands that system properties exist independently of whether they are measured, while noncontextuality demands that the results of measurements do not depend on what other measurements are performed in conjunction with them. The Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem states that noncontextual realism cannot reproduce the measurement statistics of a single three-level quantum system (qutrit). Noncontextual realistic models may thus be tested using a single qutrit without relying on the notion of quantum entanglement in contrast to Bell inequality tests. It is challenging to refute such models experimentally, since imperfections may introduce loopholes that enable a realist interpretation. Here we use a superconducting qutrit with deterministic, binary-outcome readouts to violate a noncontextuality inequality while addressing the detection, individual-existence and compatibility loopholes. This evidence of state-dependent contextuality also demonstrates the fitness of superconducting quantum circuits for fault-tolerant quantum computation in surface-code architectures, currently the most promising route to scalable quantum computing

A constructively critical review of change and innovation-related concepts: Towards conceptual and operational clarity

The aim of this paper is to examine and clarify the nomological network of change and innovation (CI)-related constructs. A literature review in this field revealed a number of interrelated constructs that have emerged over the last decades. We examine several such constructs—innovation, creativity, proactive behaviours, job crafting, voice, taking charge, personal initiative, submitting suggestions, and extra-role behaviours. Our conceptual analysis suggests each one of these constructs represents a specific component of CI-related behaviours. However, we also found that on occasion these concepts have been dysfunctionally operationalized with evidence of three dysfunctional effects: (a) construct confusion, (b) construct drift, and (c) construct contamination. Challenges for future research to enhance conceptual and operational clarity are discussed.This paper was supported by the British Academy: [Grant number SG110409] awarded to the first author and by UK Leverhulme Trust: [Grant number IN-2012-095] awarded to the second author

Preparing the bioactive surface of Ti/Zr/Ti system by femtosecond laser pre-patterning of substrate

The experimental study of the dynamic femtosecond laser substrate pre-patterning of the Ti/Zr/Ti thin film system is reported. The design of surface pattering with the micrometer features in the form of spikes is investigated in order to improve the arrayed surface structures for biomedical applications. Femtosecond laser pulses were used to acquire black silicon surfaces decorated with conical structures (spikes) on crystalline silicon surfaces under 6.5×102 mbar of SF6 environmental atmosphere. After irradiation, the silicon surface exhibits high aspect ratio spikes, which have conical shapes of about 2 μm height, 40° angle opening, 13×106 cm−2 density that remains approximately uniform across the processed area. Results show that the base of the induced conical structures has an elliptical shape with a major (long) and minor (short) axis on the horizontal plane. It is revealed that the orientation of the long axis of the ellipsis is polarization-dependent with the long axis oriented always perpendicularly to the electric field of the laser beam. Spike formation has been attributed to a complex mechanism initiated by partial material melting and subsequent capillary wave formation driven by surface tension gradients within the molten region. Ion sputtering was used to create unique composite thin films on pre-patterned Si substrates that consist of two layers of Ti and subsurface layer of Zr on the interface of titanium. The total thickness of the deposited composite in Ti/Zr/Ti form was 300 nm. The composition, surface morphology and wetting properties were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS), profilometry and wettability measurements. The formation of micro-patterns with spikes array of composite Ti/Zr/Ti thin film systems was used to observe the effects of morphology on survival, adhesion and proliferation of the MRC-5 cell culture line. To determine whether Ti/Zr/Ti thin films have a toxic effect on living cells, an MTT assay was performed. The relative cytotoxic effect as a percentage of surviving cells showed that there was no difference in cell number between the Ti/Zr/Ti thin films and the control cells. There was also no difference in the viability of the MRC-5 cells.IX International School and Conference on Photonics : PHOTONICA2023 : book of abstracts; August 28 - September 1, 2023; Belgrad

Argon milling induced decoherence mechanisms in superconducting quantum circuits

The fabrication of superconducting circuits requires multiple deposition, etch and cleaning steps, each possibly introducing material property changes and microscopic defects. In this work, we specifically investigate the process of argon milling, a potentially coherence limiting step, using niobium and aluminum superconducting resonators as a proxy for surface-limited behavior of qubits. We find that niobium microwave resonators exhibit an order of magnitude decrease in quality-factors after surface argon milling, while aluminum resonators are resilient to the same process. Extensive analysis of the niobium surface shows no change in the suboxide composition due to argon milling, while two-tone spectroscopy measurements reveal an increase in two-level system electrical dipole moments, indicating a structurally altered niobium oxide hosting larger two-level system defects. However, a short dry etch can fully recover the argon milling induced losses on niobium, offering a potential route towards state-of-the-art overlap Josephson junction qubits with niobium circuitry.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. 5 appendices, with 6 additional figures and 3 additional tables. 62 reference

Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12

Sustainable development depends on decoupling economic growth from resource use. The material footprint indicator accounts for environmental pressure related to a country’s final demand. It measures material use across global supply-chain networks linking production and consumption. For this reason, it has been used as an indicator for two Sustainable Development Goals: 8.4 ‘resource efficiency improvements’ and 12.2 ‘sustainable management of natural resources’. Currently, no reporting facility exists that provides global, detailed and timely information on countries’ material footprints. We present a new collaborative research platform, based on multiregional input–output analysis, that enables countries to regularly produce, update and report detailed global material footprint accounts and monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8.4 and 12.2. We show that the global material footprint has quadrupled since 1970, driven mainly by emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region, but with an indication of plateauing since 2014. Capital investments increasingly dominate over household consumption as the main driver. At current trends, absolute decoupling is unlikely to occur over the next few decades. The new collaborative research platform allows to elevate the material footprint to Tier I status in the SDG indicator framework and paves the way to broaden application of the platform to other environmental footprint indicators

Fanny Copeland and the geographical imagination

Raised in Scotland, married and divorced in the English south, an adopted Slovene, Fanny Copeland (1872 – 1970) occupied the intersection of a number of complex spatial and temporal conjunctures. A Slavophile, she played a part in the formation of what subsequently became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that emerged from the First World War. Living in Ljubljana, she facilitated the first ‘foreign visit’ (in 1932) of the newly formed Le Play Society (a precursor of the Institute of British Geographers) and guided its studies of Solčava (a then ‘remote’ Alpine valley system) which, led by Dudley Stamp and commended by Halford Mackinder, were subsequently hailed as a model for regional studies elsewhere. Arrested by the Gestapo and interned in Italy during the Second World War, she eventually returned to a socialist Yugoslavia, a celebrated figure. An accomplished musician, linguist, and mountaineer, she became an authority on (and populist for) the Julian Alps and was instrumental in the establishment of the Triglav National Park. Copeland’s role as participant observer (and protagonist) enriches our understanding of the particularities of her time and place and illuminates some inter-war relationships within G/geography, inside and outside the academy, suggesting their relative autonomy in the production of geographical knowledge

Characterization of Novel Cutaneous Human Papillomavirus Genotypes HPV-150 and HPV-151

DNA from two novel HPV genotypes, HPV-150 and HPV-151, isolated from hair follicles of immuno-competent individuals, was fully cloned, sequenced and characterized. The complete genomes of HPV-150 and HPV-151 are 7,436-bp and 7,386-bp in length, respectively. Both contain genes for at least six proteins, namely E6, E7, E1, E2, L2, L1, as well as a non-coding upstream regulatory region located between the L1 and E6 genes: spanning 416-bp in HPV-150 (genomic positions 7,371 to 350) and 322-bp in HPV-151 (genomic positions 7,213 to 148). HPV-150 and HPV-151 are phylogenetically placed within the Betapapillomavirus genus and are most closely related to HPV-96 and HPV-22, respectively. As in other members of this genus, the intergenic E2-L2 region is very short and does not encode for an E5 gene. Both genotypes contain typical zinc binding domains in their E6 and E7 proteins, but HPV-151 lacks the regular pRb-binding core sequence within its E7 protein. In order to assess the tissue predilection and clinical significance of the novel genotypes, quantitative type-specific real-time PCR assays were developed. The 95% detection limits of the HPV-150 and HPV-151 assays were 7.3 copies/reaction (range 5.6 to 11.4) and 3.4 copies/reaction (range 2.5 to 6.0), respectively. Testing of a representative collection of HPV-associated mucosal and cutaneous benign and malignant neoplasms and hair follicles (total of 540 samples) revealed that HPV-150 and HPV-151 are relatively rare genotypes with a cutaneous tropism. Both genotypes were found in sporadic cases of common warts and SCC and BCC of the skin as single or multiple infections usually with low viral loads. HPV-150 can establish persistent infection of hair follicles in immuno-competent individuals. A partial L1 sequence of a putative novel HPV genotype, related to HPV-150, was identified in a squamous cell carcinoma of the skin obtained from a 64-year old immuno-compromised male patient