Toward the Efficient Grazing Management with Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

内容の要約博士(農学)Doctor of Agriculture広島大

Bayesian Modeling for Estimating Cattle’s Dung position in Pasture

Livestock excrement is one of the major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in pasture. As a first step in evaluating its contribution to overall GHG emissions, an understanding of excretion distribution patterns in pastures is required. Betteridge et al. (2010) describe a urine sensor that detects and logs each urination event of female sheep and cattle. The urine sensor records time and ambient temperature at one-second intervals however, patters of dung distribution are not specified. The objective of this study was to predict spatial distribution of cattle dung. The knowledge of livestock excrement position may be useful for farmers to minimize overall GHG emissions

Influence of draw restraining force on the springback in advanced high strength steels

Abstract Draw beads are used in sheet metal forming processes to regulate material flow and achieve higher quality in the parts. The draw beads impose draw restraining force on the blank which eliminates defects such as wrinkling, tearing and reduces springback. In a draw-bend test, the draw restraining force is imitated by the back force applied through a hydraulic ram. As the back force increases, large strain is induced which reduces springback tendency. This study evaluates the influence of back force on the springback behavior in advanced high strength steel (AHSS). Three grades of dual-phase steel, namely DP600, DP800, DP980, are used with normalized back forces ranging from 0.5 to 1.1. The springback decreases as the back force increases. Anticlastic curvature as well as curl radius has significant influence on the springback behavior of dual phase steels

Hyperspectral Assessment for Legume Content and Forage Nutrient Status in Pastures

Symposium mini revie

Hyperspectral Assessment for Legume Contents and Forage Nutrient Status in Pasture

Oral Session

Monitoring Spatial Heterogeneity of Pasture within Paddock Scale using a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (sUAV)

Symposium mini revie

Multiplex polymerase chain reaction test for the diagnosis of acute viral hepatitis A

Background/AimsThe early diagnosis of acute hepatitis A (AHA) is hindered because serum IgM against hepatitis A virus (HAV) can yield false-negative results during the window period. This study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit for HAV RNA for the diagnosis of AHA.MethodsSamples were collected from 136 patients with acute severe hepatitis at their admission to Asan Medical Center between June 2010 and July 2010. Samples were analyzed for serum IgM anti-HAV using an immunoassay test and for qualitative HAV RNA using the Magicplex HepaTrio PCR test kit. The diagnostic accuracies of these methods were tested on the basis of clinical and laboratory diagnoses of AHA.ResultsThe concordance rate and kappa value between IgM anti-HAV and HAV RNA PCR were 88.2% and 0.707, respectively. For the diagnosis of AHA, the sensitivity and specificity of IgM anti-HAV were 90.7% and 100%, respectively, when an "equivocal" result was regarded as positive; and 79.1% and 100%, respectively, when an "equivocal" result was regarded as negative. The sensitivity and specificity of HAV RNA PCR were 81.4% and 100%, respectively. All four patients with negative IgM anti-HAV and positive HAV RNA PCR results and all four patients with equivocal IgM anti-HAV RNA and positive HAV RNA PCR results were eventually diagnosed with AHA.ConclusionsThe qualitative HAV RNA PCR test has an equivalent diagnostic accuracy for AHA compared to IgM anti-HAV and may be more sensitive during the window period

Spatial Heterogeneity in Grazing Pasture from Small Unmanned Aerial Vihicle (sUAV) with Structure from Motion (SfM) Photogrammetry

Oral Session

Toward a Lithium−“Air” Battery: The Effect of CO_2 on the Chemistry of a Lithium−Oxygen Cell

Lithium–oxygen chemistry offers the highest energy density for a rechargeable system as a “lithium–air battery”. Most studies of lithium–air batteries have focused on demonstrating battery operations in pure oxygen conditions; such a battery should technically be described as a “lithium–dioxygen battery”. Consequently, the next step for the lithium–“air” battery is to understand how the reaction chemistry is affected by the constituents of ambient air. Among the components of air, CO_2 is of particular interest because of its high solubility in organic solvents and it can react actively with O_2–•, which is the key intermediate species in Li–O_2 battery reactions. In this work, we investigated the reaction mechanisms in the Li–O_2/CO_2 cell under various electrolyte conditions using quantum mechanical simulations combined with experimental verification. Our most important finding is that the subtle balance among various reaction pathways influencing the potential energy surfaces can be modified by the electrolyte solvation effect. Thus, a low dielectric electrolyte tends to primarily form Li_2O_2, while a high dielectric electrolyte is effective in electrochemically activating CO_2, yielding only Li_2CO_3. Most surprisingly, we further discovered that a high dielectric medium such as DMSO can result in the reversible reaction of Li_2CO_3 over multiple cycles. We believe that the current mechanistic understanding of the chemistry of CO_2 in a Li–air cell and the interplay of CO_2 with electrolyte solvation will provide an important guideline for developing Li–air batteries. Furthermore, the possibility for a rechargeable Li–O_2/CO_2 battery based on Li_2CO_3 may have merits in enhancing cyclability by minimizing side reactions

Comparison of surgical resection versus transarterial chemoembolization with additional radiation therapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein invasion

Background/Aims Portal vein invasion (PVI) is a poor prognostic factor in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We intended to compare the effects of surgical resection and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with additional radiation therapy (RT) in HCC patients with PVI. Methods The subjects comprised 43 patients who underwent surgical resection for HCC with PVI without previous treatment and another 43 patients who received TACE followed by RT (TACE+RT) as initial treatment who were matched for Child-Pugh class, tumor size, and extent of PVI. Disease progression and death after the treatment were examined, and progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared between groups. Predisposing factors affecting OS were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses in HCC patients with PVI. Results The subjects (Age [51, 24-74; median, range], Sex [81/13; male/female], Etiology [78/1/15; hepatitis B virus {HBV}/ hepatitis C virus {HCV}/non-HBV and non-HCV]) were followed for a median of 17 (2-68) months. There were no differences in clinical or tumor characteristics between the resection and TACE+RT groups. The cumulative PFS was not significantly different between groups. The median PFS was 5.6 and 4.0 months in the resection and TACE+RT groups, respectively. However, the cumulative OS was significantly longer in patients treated with resection than in those treated with TACE+RT (P=0.04). The median OS was 26.9 and 14.2 months in the resection and TACE+RT groups, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that surgical resection was an independent predictive factor for better survival outcome. Conclusions Surgical resection might be an effective treatment in HCC patients with PVI