Modelling of digesta passage rates in grazing and browsing domestic and wild ruminant herbivores

Ruminant utilization of poor-quality feeds is governed by rates of digestion and of passage through the rumen. The passage rate of feed material determines the quantity of bypass nutrients and the efficiency of synthesis of microbial protein in the rumen, making modelling of passage rate important. Artificial neural networks were used to develop models of liquid and solid passage rates. Studies that reported fractional passage rates, along with class and body mass of ruminants, were included in the dataset. Factors that affect rates of passage in all the studies were identified, which included animal and feed factors. The dataset was composed of observations of domestic and wild ruminants of variable body mass (1.5 to 1238 kg) from 74 studies and 17 ruminant species from various climatic regions. Observations were randomly divided into two data subsets: 75% for training and 25% for validation. Developed models accounted for 66 and 82% of the variation in prediction of passage rates for solid and liquid, respectively. On validation with an independent dataset, these models attained 42 and 64% of precision in predicting passage rates for solid and liquid, respectively. Liquid and solid prediction passage rate models had no linear and mean bias in prediction. This study developed better prediction models for solid and liquid passage rates for ruminants fed on a variety of diets and/or feeds from different climatic regions.Keywords: Artificial neural networks, intake, mean retention time, prediction equation, rume

Pengaruh Kecepatan Angin Blower Dan Jumlah Pipa Pemanas Terhadap Laju Pengeringan Pada Alat Pengering Padi Tipe Bed Dryer Berbahan Bakar Sekam Padi

One of the stages of post-harvest handling is drying rice. The rice drying process for this is still done by direct drying under the sun. The drying process depends on the amount of solar radiation, especially the rainy winter weather. The results showed that the air flow rate and the number of heating pipes are very influential on the energy supplied air to evaporate the water in the grain. Where the highest energy 3.948.7353,979 Watt blower, wind speed 13 m / s with variations of two heating pipes, while the lowest energy 469,041.223 Watt blower, wind speed 13 m / s with variations of three heating pipes. The air flow rate and the number of heating pipes also affect the thermal energy which can be used for drying grain. Where the highest energy 85968.800 Watt at a speed of 13 m / s with variations of three pieces of pipe, while the lowest energy 31426.867 Watt at a speed of 13 m / s with variations of the pieces of pipe. The efficiency is very dependent on a hot air flow rate and the number of heating pipes, if the energy received high grain, the higher efficiency is obtained. Where the highest efficiency 98.73% at a wind speed blower 13 m / s with two heating pipes, while the low efficiency of 2.81% at a wind speed blower 7 m / s with a single heating pip

Ab-initio investigation of phonon dispersion and anomalies in palladium

In recent years, palladium has proven to be a crucial component for devices ranging from nanotube field effect transistors to advanced hydrogen storage devices. In this work, I examine the phonon dispersion of fcc Pd using first principle calculations based on density functional perturbation theory. While several groups in the past have studied the acoustic properties of palladium, this is the first study to reproduce the phonon dispersion and associated anomaly with high accuracy and no adjustable parameters. In particular, I focus on the Kohn anomaly in the [110] direction.Comment: 19 pages, preprint format, 7 figures, added new figures and discussio

Mindblind eyes: an absence of spontaneous theory of mind in Asperger syndrome

Adults with Asperger syndrome can understand mental states such as desires and beliefs (mentalizing) when explicitly prompted to do so, despite having impairments in social communication. We directly tested the hypothesis that such individuals nevertheless fail to mentalize spontaneously. To this end, we used an eye-tracking task that has revealed the spontaneous ability to mentalize in typically developing infants. We showed that, like infants, neurotypical adults’ (n = 17 participants) eye movements anticipated an actor’s behavior on the basis of her false belief. This was not the case for individuals with Asperger syndrome (n = 19). Thus, these individuals do not attribute mental states spontaneously, but they may be able to do so in explicit tasks through compensatory learning

Pengaruh Kecepatan Angin Blower dan Jumlah Pipa Pemanas terhadap LajuPengeringan padaAlat Pengering Padi Tipe Bed DryerBerbahan Bakar Sekam Padi

Abstrak Salah satu tahap penanganan pasca panen yaitu pengeringan padi. Proses pengeringan padi selama ini masih dilakukan dengan cara dijemur langsung dibawah sinar matahari. Proses pengeringan tergantung pada besarnya penyinaran matahari apalagi cuaca musim hujan. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa kecepata aliran udara dan jumlah pipa pemanas sangat berpengaruh terhadap energi yang diberikan udara untuk menguapkan air dalam gabah. Dimana energi tertinggi 3.948.7353,979 Watt pada kecepatan angin blower 13 m/s dengan variasi dua buah pipa pemanas, sedangkan energi terendah 469.041,223 Watt pada kecepatan angin blower 13 m/s dengan variasi tiga buah pipa pemanas. Kecepatan aliran udara dan jumlah pipa pemanas juga sangat berpengaruh terhadap energi panas yang dapat dimanfaatkan untuk mengeringkan gabah. Dimana energi tertinggi 85.968,800 Watt pada kecepatan 13 m/s dengan variasi tiga buah pipa, sedangkan energi terendah 31.426,867 Watt  pada kecepatan 13 m/s dengan variasi satu buah pipa. Efisiensi sangat bergantung pada laju aliran udara panas dan jumlah pipa pemanas, apabila energi yang di terima gabah tinggi maka semakin tinggi pula efisiensi yang diperoleh. Dimana efisiensi tertinggi  98,73 % pada kecepatan angin blower 13 m/s dengan dua buah pipa pemanas, sedangkan efisiensi terendah 2,81 % pada kecepatan angin blower 7 m/s dengan satu buah pipa pemanas

Dysferlinopathy in Switzerland: clinical phenotypes and potential founder effects.

BACKGROUND: Dysferlin is reduced in patients with limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B, Miyoshi myopathy, distal anterior compartment myopathy, and in certain Ethnic clusters. METHODS: We evaluated clinical and genetic patient data from three different Swiss Neuromuscular Centers. RESULTS: Thirteen patients from 6 non-related families were included. Age of onset was 18.8 ± 4.3 years. In all patients, diallelic disease-causing mutations were identified in the DYSF gene. Nine patients from 3 non-related families from Central Switzerland carried the identical homozygous mutation, c.3031 + 2 T>C. A possible founder effect was confirmed by haplotype analysis. Three patients from two different families carried the heterozygous mutation, c.1064_1065delAA. Two novel mutations were identified (c.2869 C>T (p.Gln957Stop), c.5928 G>A (p.Trp1976Stop)). CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the phenotypic heterogeneity associated with DYSF mutations. Two mutations (c.3031 + 2 T>C, c.1064_1065delAA) appear common in Switzerland. Haplotype analysis performed on one case (c. 3031 + 2 T>C) suggested a possible founder effect

Limits on a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Lensing

We compute the effects of a stochastic background of gravitational waves on multiply imaged systems or on weak lensing. There are two possible observable effects, a static relative deflection of images or shear, and an induced time dependent shift or proper motion. We evaluate the rms magnitude of these effects for a COBE normalized, scale-invariant spectrum, which is an upper limit on spectra produced by inflation. Previous work has shown that large-scale structure may cause a relative deflection large enough to affect observations, but we find that the corresponding effect of gravity waves is smaller by $\sim 10^4$ and so cannot be observed. This results from the oscillation in time as well as the redshifting of the amplitude of gravity waves. We estimate the magnitude of the proper motion induced by deflection of light due to large-scale structure, and find it to be $\sim 10^{-8}$ arcsec per year. This corresponds to $\sim 50$ km/s at cosmological distances, which is quite small compared to typical peculiar velocities. The COBE normalized gravity wave spectrum produces motions smaller still by $\sim 10^2$. We conclude that light deflection due to these cosmological perturbations cannot produce observable proper motions of lensed images. On the other hand, there are only a few known observational limits on a stochastic background of gravity waves at shorter, astrophysical wavelengths. We calculate the expected magnitudes of the effects of lensing by gravity waves of such wavelengths, and find that they are too small to yield interesting limits on the energy density of gravity waves.Comment: 14 pages, LaTex + 1 PS Figure, accepted version to be published in Phys. Rev. D15, Dec. 1996. An incorrect assumption was removed, also various other minor change

Detection of Bronchial Neoplasia in Uranium Miners by Autofluorescence Endoscopy (SAFE-1000)

The increase in the detection rate for premalignant changes of bronchial epithelium was studied in 56 symptom-free volunteers from the risk group of Czech uranium miners (mean age 50.69 years, mean WLM 21.06 (1 Working Level Month is equal to the absorption of latent energy of 2.08 × 10–5 J/m3 in one month, i.e. 170 working hours)) by the additional employment of the System of Autofluorescence Endoscopy (SAFE-1000 Pentax) to conventional white-light bronchoscopy, comparing results with those of bronchial biopsy histopathology examination. Histopathology using hematoxylin and eosin staining confirmed intraepithelial neoplasias in 15 areas in 10 persons. White-light bronchoscopy sensitivity was 21.05%, and specificity 93.7% which an autofluorescence bronchoscopy sensitivity was 78.95% and specificity 81.89%