489 research outputs found
Model studies of Helmholtz resonances in rooms with windows and doorways
Numerical analysis of Helmholtz resonator system established between windows and open doors when subjected to sonic boom impulsive load
Incidence of anthelmintic resistance in cattle farms in Northern Germany – first results
Anthelmintic resistance (AR) is an increasing problem worldwide especially for small ruminants and it is also rising in cattle. To maintain the efficacy of anthelmintics is an important objective. The current project aims at the investigation of the current efficacy of macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics for strongylid nematodes in first season grazing (FSG) calves in Northern Germany. On 8 participating farms in Northern Germany faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) with ivermectin (IVM) were performed. On 3 farms the efficacy of IVM was found to be ≤90% and on only 4 farms it was > 95% at 14 days post treatment (d.p.t.). Only 2 farms showed a reduction ≥ 95% at 21 d.p.t.. This survey reveals a rising problem of AR. The problem of drug resistance places the welfare of animals at risk. In organic farming, without a preventive treatment, livestock may harbour high worm counts. Therefore it is necessary to maintain powerful anthelmintic drugs to guarantee the welfare of animals that need salvage treatment. To investigate the AR problem in cattle more surveys with different anthelmintic drug classes are urgently needed
Investigation on the influence of nematophagous fungi as feed additive on nematode infection risk of sheep and goats on pasture
Gastrointestinal nematodes in small ruminants cause high economic losses. Thus on most farms anthelmintic treatment is required. In response to increasing problems with anthelmintic resistance, biological control, for example the use of nematophagous fungi, has received significant attention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Duddingtonia flagrans orally applied to small ruminants on natural infection with gastrointestinal nematodes in a field study in Northern Germany.
20 goats and 20 sheep were fed daily for 3 months with 5x105 spores of D. flagrans per kg bodyweight. Differences in body weight, faecal egg count and larval development in faeces and on pasture in comparison with same-sized control groups were analysed. After 3 months the control goats showed significantly higher mean faecal egg count than the fungus-fed group. No significant difference was found between the two sheep groups. The maximum in larval reduction in faeces was 81.3 % in the sheep groups and 67.9 % in the goat groups (not significant). At the end of the study the body weight gain in the fungus-treated groups was 1.7 kg higher in goats and 0.7 kg higher in sheep than in the control groups (not significant). Regarding the first-year-grazing goats only, the bodyweights revealed significant differences (p<0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in pasture larval counts.
In the study presented here, no clear effect of fungus could be observed. A modified feeding regimen, perhaps with permanent release boluses or feed blocks, may improve the efficacy. Furthermore, it seems that climatic conditions during the study period could have influenced the results and displayed how sensitive the fungus application may be on such parameters
Improving the Accuracy of the Boundary Integral Method Based on the Helmholtz Integral
Several recent papers in the literature have been based on various forms of the Helmholtz integral to compute the radiation fields of vibrating bodies. The surface integral form is given. The symbols of P,R micron, rho,G,R,V, and S micron are acoustic pressure, source coordinate, angular frequency, fluid density, Green function, field coordinate, surface velocity and body surface respectively. A discretized form of the surface integral is also given. Solutions to the surface integral are complicated with the singularity of the Green function at R=R micron and with the uniqueness problem at interior eigen frequencies of the enclosed space. The use of the interior integral circumvents the singularity problem since the field points are chosen in the interior space of the vibrating body where a zero pressure condition exists. The interior integral form is given. The method to improve the accuracy is detailed. Examples of the method is presented for a variety of radiators
An Atlas of H-alpha and R Images and Radial Profiles of 29 Bright Isolated Spiral Galaxies
Narrow-band H-alpha+[NII] and broadband R images and surface photometry are
presented for a sample of 29 bright (M_B < -18) isolated S0-Scd galaxies within
a distance of 48 Mpc. These galaxies are among the most isolated nearby spiral
galaxies of their Hubble classifications as determined from the Nearby Galaxies
Catalog (Tully 1987a).Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 17 pages,
including 8 atlas pages in JPEG format. Version with high resolution figures
available at http://www1.union.edu/~koopmanr/preprints.htm
Peak effect at the weak- to strong pinning crossover
In type-II superconductors, the magnetic field enters in the form of
vortices; their flow under application of a current introduces dissipation and
thus destroys the defining property of a superconductor. Vortices get
immobilized by pinning through material defects, thus resurrecting the
supercurrent. In weak collective pinning, defects compete and only fluctuations
in the defect density produce pinning. On the contrary, strong pins deform the
lattice and induce metastabilities. Here, we focus on the crossover from weak-
to strong bulk pinning, which is triggered either by increasing the strength
of the defect potential or by decreasing the effective
elasticity of the lattice (which is parametrized by the Labusch force
). With an appropriate Landau expansion of the free energy we
obtain a peak effect with a sharp rise in the critical current density
.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures (Proceedings of the Third European Conference on
Vortex Matter in Superconductors, to be published in Physica C
Weak- to strong pinning crossover
Material defects in hard type II superconductors pin the flux lines and thus
establish the dissipation-free current transport in the presence of a finite
magnetic field. Depending on the density and pinning force of the defects and
the vortex density, pinning is either weak-collective or strong. We analyze the
weak- to strong pinning crossover of vortex matter in disordered
superconductors and discuss the peak effect appearing naturally in this
context.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Untersuchungen zur Wirksamkeit von Anthelminthika bei erstsömmrigen Rindern in Europa
Resistance to anthelmintics is a threat to several animal industries world wide. Nevertheless,
the use of effective anthelmintics to control nematode infections in cattle
still remains irreplaceable. Anthelmintic resistance in cattle has been reported in New
Zealand, North and South America and England but so far not in Europe. To be able
to determine the extent of anthelmintic resistance in nematodes of farm animals and to
monitor the success of any resistance management requires reliable tests for the
detection of anthelmintic resistance. One of the objectives of PARASOL, a European
Framework 6 funded project, is to produce standard operating procedures for the
running of a faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT). Standardized procedures for
the FECRT have been developed and surveys with injectable ivermectin were then
performed in Germany, Sweden and Belgium in 2006 and 2007. Additional tests using
benzimidazoles were performed in Sweden and Germany in 2007. Furthermore, some
of the refractory strains will be isolated to test whether the phenomena observed in the
field was due to the evolution of anthelmintic resistance
Ongoing Gas Stripping in the Virgo Cluster Spiral NGC 4522
The Virgo cluster galaxy NGC 4522 is one of the best spiral candidates for
ICM-ISM stripping in action. Optical broadband and H-alpha images from the WIYN
telescope of the highly inclined galaxy reveal a relatively undisturbed stellar
disk and a peculiar distribution of H-alpha emission. Ten percent of the
H-alpha emission arises from extraplanar HII regions which appear to lie within
filamentary structures >3 kpc long above one side of the disk. The filaments
emerge from the outer edge of a disk of bright H-alpha emission which is
abruptly truncated beyond 0.35R(25). Together the truncated H-alpha disk and
extraplanar H-alpha filaments are reminiscent of a bow shock morphology, which
strongly suggests that the interstellar medium (ISM) of NGC 4522 is being
stripped by the gas pressure of the intracluster medium (ICM). The galaxy has a
line-of-sight velocity of 1300 km/sec with respect to the mean Virgo cluster
velocity, and thus is expected to experience a strong interaction with the
intracluster gas. The existence of HII regions apparently located above the
disk plane suggests that star formation is occuring in the stripped gas, and
that newly formed stars will enter the galaxy halo and/or intracluster space.
The absence of HII regions in the disk beyond 0.35R(25), and the existence of
HII regions in the stripped gas suggest that even molecular gas has been
effectively removed from the disk of the galaxy.Comment: to appear in The Astronomical Journal, 16 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Environmental Effects in Clusters: Modified Far-Infrared--Radio Relations within Virgo Cluster Galaxies
(abridged) We present a study on the effects of the intracluster medium (ICM)
on the interstellar medium (ISM) of 10 Virgo cluster spiral galaxies using {\it
Spitzer} far-infrared (FIR) and VLA radio continuum imaging. Relying on the
FIR-radio correlation within normal galaxies, we use our infrared data to
create model radio maps which we compare to the observed radio images. For 6 of
our sample galaxies we find regions along their outer edges that are highly
deficient in the radio compared with our models. We believe these observations
are the signatures of ICM ram pressure. For NGC 4522 we find the radio deficit
region to lie just exterior to a region of high radio polarization and flat
radio spectral index, although the total 20 cm radio continuum in this region
does not appear strongly enhanced. These characteristics seem consistent for
other galaxies with radio polarization data in the literature. The strength of
the radio deficit is inversely correlated with the time since peak pressure as
inferred from stellar population studies and gas stripping simulations,
suggesting the strength of the radio deficit is good indicator of the strength
of the current ram pressure. We also find that galaxies having {\it local}
radio {\it deficits} appear to have {\it enhanced global} radio fluxes. Our
preferred physical picture is that the observed radio deficit regions arise
from the ICM wind sweeping away cosmic-ray (CR) electrons and the associated
magnetic field, thereby creating synchrotron tails as observed for some of our
galaxies. We propose that CR particles are also re-accelerated by ICM-driven
shocklets behind the observed radio deficit regions which in turn enhances the
remaining radio disk brightness.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures; Astrophysical Journa
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