Performances de reproduction et production laitière de croisés Montbéliarde x N’Dama du ‘‘Projet Laitier Sud’’ (Côte d’Ivoire)

Dans la perspective de l’amélioration de la production de lait, des vaches hybrides issues de croisements Montbéliarde x N’dama, obtenues par insémination artificielle ont été utilisées. Les performances de reproduction et de production laitière de ces bovins ont été évaluées dans le « Projet Laitier Sud » en Côte d’Ivoire. L’étude a porté sur 66 vaches reparties de la manière suivante : Ferme A (20 vaches), Ferme B (17 vaches) et Ferme C (19 vaches). Des paramètres de reproduction (Age au premier vêlage et Intervalle entre vêlages) et de production laitière (Durée de lactation, Durée de la période de tarissement, Lactations partielles et Lactation totale) ont été mesurés. Le premier vêlage est intervenu à 38,3 ± 5,0 mois d’âge en moyenne. L’intervalle entre vêlage a diminué avec le nombre de vêlage et est resté proche de celui du parent N’dama. Le croisement a eu pour effet de réduire les écarts de variation des durées de lactation et de tarissement chez les hybrides comparativement à celles du parent N’dama. Ce métissage a permis également une augmentationsensible de la production laitière sans pour autant atteindre la moyenne des races parentales. L’amélioration de la production laitière doit être assujettie aux conditions environnementales, à la technicité et la conduite de l’élevage.Mots clés : Amélioration génétique, croisement, lait, paramètres zootechniques

Forehead Skin Blood Flow in Normal Neonates during Active and Quiet Sleep, Measured with a Diode Laser Doppler Instrument

Changes in forehead skin blood flow during active and quiet sleep were determined in 16 healthy neonates using a recently developed semi-conductor laser Doppler flow meter without light conducting fibres. Measurements were carried out at a postnatal age varying from 5 hours to 7 days. The two sleep states could be distinguished in 17 recordings. The mean skin blood flow values during active sleep were significantly higher (p<0.01) than those during quiet sleep, the mean increase being 28.1%. The variability of the flow signal, expressed as the coefficient of variation, changed significantly from 23.1% during active sleep to 18.2% during quiet sleep

School Flexible Learning Spaces, Student Movement Behavior and Educational Outcomes among Adolescents: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: To achieve sustainability, we must consider scalable improvements in student movement behavior in the classroom setting, educational priorities. Flexible learning spaces that employ student‐centered pedagogy and contain a range of furniture and layout options, implemented to improve educational outcomes, may enable unintended health benefits. In this review, we summarize the evidence on the effects of flexible learning spaces on adolescent student movement behaviors and educational outcomes. METHODS: We searched 5 databases, retrieving 5 quantitative and one qualitative article meeting the review criteria. RESULTS: Students in flexible learning spaces spent less time sitting, and more time standing and moving. Students were also more engaged, on‐task, and collaborated and interacted more. Academic results for English, Mathematics and Humanities for those in flexible learning spaces were higher than peers in traditional classrooms. CONCLUSION: Evidence from the reviewed studies suggests that there may be beneficial outcomes across some movement behaviors as well as learning outcomes in classrooms that employ student‐centered pedagogy and use a built environment that facilitates autonomy and choice around where and how to learn. These learning environments present an opportunity for an interdisciplinary approach to address sedentary behavior in classrooms

Assessment of railway ground vibration in urban area using in-situ transfer mobilities and simulated vehicle-track interaction

This article proposes an alternative approach to the well-known Federal Railroad Administration method to evaluate ground vibrations induced by the passing of railway vehicles. The originality lies on the excitation mechanisms that occur in urban areas. A common source of railway-induced ground vibrations is local defects (rail joints, switches, and turnouts) which cause large amplitude excitations at isolated locations along the track. To analyse such situations, a combined numerical-experimental study is developed, based on the use of numerical train/track results and experimental mobility transfer functions. The influence of building foundation type, vehicle, defect type, and size and location is evaluated through experimental data collected in Brussels (Belgium). The results show that it is possible to assess vibrations from light rapid transit systems in the presence of local rail defects and unknown soil conditions

Different atmospheric moisture divergence responses to extreme and moderate El Niños

On seasonal and inter-annual time scales, vertically integrated moisture divergence provides a useful measure of the tropical atmospheric hydrological cycle. It reflects the combined dynamical and thermodynamical effects, and is not subject to the limitations that afflict observations of evaporation minus precipitation. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of the tropical Pacific moisture divergence fields calculated from the ERA-Interim reanalysis reveals the dominant effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on inter-annual time scales. Two EOFs are necessary to capture the ENSO signature, and regression relationships between their Principal Components and indices of equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) demonstrate that the transition from strong La Niña through to extreme El Niño events is not a linear one. The largest deviation from linearity is for the strongest El Niños, and we interpret that this arises at least partly because the EOF analysis cannot easily separate different patterns of responses that are not orthogonal to each other. To overcome the orthogonality constraints, a self-organizing map (SOM) analysis of the same moisture divergence fields was performed. The SOM analysis captures the range of responses to ENSO, including the distinction between the moderate and strong El Niños identified by the EOF analysis. The work demonstrates the potential for the application of SOM to large scale climatic analysis, by virtue of its easier interpretation, relaxation of orthogonality constraints and its versatility for serving as an alternative classification method. Both the EOF and SOM analyses suggest a classification of “moderate” and “extreme” El Niños by their differences in the magnitudes of the hydrological cycle responses, spatial patterns and evolutionary paths. Classification from the moisture divergence point of view shows consistency with results based on other physical variables such as SST

Exploring Relations Between BCG and Cluster Properties in the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources Survey from 0.05<z<0.30.05 < z < 0.3

We present a sample of 329 low to intermediate redshift ($0.05 < z < 0.3$) brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in X-ray selected clusters from the SPectroscopic IDentification of eRosita Sources (SPIDERS) survey, a spectroscopic survey within Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV (SDSS-IV). We define our BCGs by simultaneous consideration of legacy X-ray data from ROSAT, maximum likelihood outputs from an optical cluster-finder algorithm and visual inspection. Using SDSS imaging data, we fit S\'ersic profiles to our BCGs in three bands (\textit{g}, \textit{r}, \textit{i}) with \textsc{SIGMA}, a \textsc{GALFIT}-based software wrapper. We examine the reliability of our fits by running our pipeline on ${\sim}10^{4}$ psf-convolved model profiles injected into 8 random cluster fields, we then use the results of this analysis to create a robust subsample of 198 BCGs. We outline three cluster properties of interest: overall cluster X-ray luminosity ($L_{X}$), cluster richness as estimated by \textsc{redMaPPer} ($\lambda$) and cluster halo mass ($M_{200}$), which is estimated via velocity dispersion. In general, there are significant correlations with BCG stellar mass between all three environmental properties, but no significant trends arise with either S\'ersic index or effective radius. There is no major environmental dependence on the strength of the relation between effective radius and BCG stellar mass. Stellar mass therefore arises as the most important factor governing BCG morphology. Our results indicate that our sample consists of a large number of relaxed, mature clusters containing broadly homogeneous BCGs up to $z \sim 0.3$, suggesting that there is little evidence for much ongoing structural evolution for BCGs in these systems

Locomotor adaptation to a powered ankle-foot orthosis depends on control method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We studied human locomotor adaptation to powered ankle-foot orthoses with the intent of identifying differences between two different orthosis control methods. The first orthosis control method used a footswitch to provide bang-bang control (a kinematic control) and the second orthosis control method used a proportional myoelectric signal from the soleus (a physiological control). Both controllers activated an artificial pneumatic muscle providing plantar flexion torque.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects walked on a treadmill for two thirty-minute sessions spaced three days apart under either footswitch control (n = 6) or myoelectric control (n = 6). We recorded lower limb electromyography (EMG), joint kinematics, and orthosis kinetics. We compared stance phase EMG amplitudes, correlation of joint angle patterns, and mechanical work performed by the powered orthosis between the two controllers over time.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During steady state at the end of the second session, subjects using proportional myoelectric control had much lower soleus and gastrocnemius activation than the subjects using footswitch control. The substantial decrease in triceps surae recruitment allowed the proportional myoelectric control subjects to walk with ankle kinematics close to normal and reduce negative work performed by the orthosis. The footswitch control subjects walked with substantially perturbed ankle kinematics and performed more negative work with the orthosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results provide evidence that the choice of orthosis control method can greatly alter how humans adapt to powered orthosis assistance during walking. Specifically, proportional myoelectric control results in larger reductions in muscle activation and gait kinematics more similar to normal compared to footswitch control.</p

The Significance of the CC-Numerical Range and the Local CC-Numerical Range in Quantum Control and Quantum Information

This paper shows how C-numerical-range related new strucures may arise from practical problems in quantum control--and vice versa, how an understanding of these structures helps to tackle hot topics in quantum information. We start out with an overview on the role of C-numerical ranges in current research problems in quantum theory: the quantum mechanical task of maximising the projection of a point on the unitary orbit of an initial state onto a target state C relates to the C-numerical radius of A via maximising the trace function |\tr \{C^\dagger UAU^\dagger\}|. In quantum control of n qubits one may be interested (i) in having U\in SU(2^n) for the entire dynamics, or (ii) in restricting the dynamics to {\em local} operations on each qubit, i.e. to the n-fold tensor product SU(2)\otimes SU(2)\otimes >...\otimes SU(2). Interestingly, the latter then leads to a novel entity, the {\em local} C-numerical range W_{\rm loc}(C,A), whose intricate geometry is neither star-shaped nor simply connected in contrast to the conventional C-numerical range. This is shown in the accompanying paper (math-ph/0702005). We present novel applications of the C-numerical range in quantum control assisted by gradient flows on the local unitary group: (1) they serve as powerful tools for deciding whether a quantum interaction can be inverted in time (in a sense generalising Hahn's famous spin echo); (2) they allow for optimising witnesses of quantum entanglement. We conclude by relating the relative C-numerical range to problems of constrained quantum optimisation, for which we also give Lagrange-type gradient flow algorithms.Comment: update relating to math-ph/070200