Electronic phase diagram of La1.875_{1.875}Ba0.125−x_{0.125-x}Srx_xCuO4_4

We performed systematic measurements of magnetic susceptibility on single crystals of La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$. The dependence of the superconducting transition temperature on Sr-concentration demonstrates a step-like pattern upon doping at {\it x}$\sim$0.08 as the crystal structure changes from low-temperature tetragonal (LTT) to low-temperature orthorhombic (LTO) phase at low temperature. Upon cooling, an anomalous upturn in the susceptibility was observed at the structural phase transition between the LTT-LTO phases under the magnetic field parallel to {\it c}-axis.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Proceeding paper of the Stripes2000 conference in Roma, Ital

Productive and Reproductive Performances of Indigenous Lime and Parkote Buffaloes in the Western hills of Nepal

Livestock is an integral part for the most rural livelihoods in Nepal. A very high proportion of poor and marginalized farmers depend on livestock as main or supplemental resources for their income. Cattle and buffalo contribute to more than 70% of the livestock sector. The Lime, Parkote and Gaddi are the indigenous buffalo breeds of Nepal. The productive and reproductive performances of indigenous buffalo breeds, Lime and Parkote, were studied in Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Lumle in Nepal. The lactation data of the indigenous buffaloes recorded by RARS livestock farm for 14 years (from 2000 to 2014) was collected and analyzed to assess the production and reproduction traits. The productive performance was 964.0±33.0 litre/lactation in Lime and 878.5±66.3 litre/lactation in Parkote, while a daily milk yield of Lime was 3.2±0.1 litre/day and that of Parkote was 2.9±0.2 litre/day. The milk constituents of Lime were 9.0% fat, 9.2% solids not fat (SNF) and 3.8% protein. The milk contents of Parkote were 8.9% fat, 9.8% SNF and 4.0% protein. The maximum mating was found in October (30%), while the minimum mating was in June (1%) in both the breeds. The calving time of Lime and Parkote was maximum in September (36%). The Lime and Parkote buffaloes are high potential milking animals in the western hills of Nepal. Furthermore, the value chain and organic production approaches would be very useful for the conservation and utilization of these indigenous buffaloes

Shift in Management Strategy of Yak Herding in the South of Mustang District, Nepal, Himalaya

In the Himalayan regions of Nepal, people herd yaks (Bos grunniens) under transhumant pastoralism, seasonal migrations of herds between summer highlands and winter lowlands. For several decades, the number of yaks has decreased, and the management strategy of yak herding has been altered due to the influence of substantial changes in both the social environment and their livelihoods. We conducted field surveys on yak herding in the south of Mustang District from 2012 to 2016 to examine the recent shift in management strategy and practice. The surveys were focused on fifteen yak owners and their herdsmen who lived in southernmost three villages in the district and organized a yak owners’ cooperative group. The herd scale has been constant in recent years, although the owners had a willingness to increase the scale. The herding practices were traditional and extensive, which might not have led to an increase in herd size or productivity. Dairy production has shown an obvious declining trend, whereas sales of meat and the revenue from the yak blood drinking festival hosted by the cooperative group have become more important income sources for local yak herding in association with the development of local infrastructures and livelihoods. Because the economic incentives for yak herding remained strong in the study area, the herding scale will be maintained, or expanded if the management practices are improved in the future

Changes of Milk Production and Reproductive Performance of Dairy Buffaloes in Nepal During Recent 15 Years

Consumption of buffalo milk has been increasing in Nepal. Thus, further development of dairy buffalo is required for efficient production. However, the changes of milk production and reproductive performance of buffaloes in the country remain obscure. Hence, the study is conducted for identifying the dairy production and reproduction of buffaloes raised in Nepal during 15 years. The records of daily milk yield (MY) from July 1997 to July 2012 were collected at Livestock Development Farm, Nepal. Lactation MY, 305 days MY, lactation length, MY per day of lactation, peak MY, days to attain peak MY, calving interval and dry period were calculated. The results were summarized every 5 years (Period 1: July 1997 - July 2002, Period 2: July 2002 - July 2007, Period 3: July 2007 - July 2012). The lactation MY, 305 days MY, daily MY per lactation and peak MY were lower in Period 1 than in Period 2 and 3. On the other hand, the days to attain peak MY was longer in Period 1 than in the other periods. However, the lactation length had no significant difference among the periods. The milk production was assumed to improve from Period 1 to Period 2 and 3. The calving interval was longer in Period 3 than in Period 2. The dry period was longest in Period 3. The efficiency of buffalo reproduction during the recent 5 years assumed to be declined. The deterioration of reproduction possibly has been caused by changes in nutritional and environmental conditions during the surveyed period

Competition between charge/spin-density-wave orders and superconductivity in La1.875_{1.875}Ba0.125−x_{0.125-x}Srx_{x}CuO4_{4}

We have performed a series of elastic neutron scattering measurements on 1/8-hole doped La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ single crystals with {\it x} = 0.05, 0.06, 0.075 and 0.085. % Both charge-density-wave (CDW) and spin-density-wave (SDW) orders are found to develop simultaneously below the structural transition temperature between the low-temperature orthorhombic (LTO) and low-temperature tetragonal (LTT) or low-temperature less-orthorhombic (LTLO) phases. % In the ground state the CDW order is observed only in the LTT/LTLO phase and drastically degrades towards the LTO boundary. The {\it x}-dependence of {\it T}$_{c}$ strongly suggests a direct effect of the CDW order on the suppression of superconductivity. % Results are discussed in comparison with those from the La$_{1.6-x}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ system within the framework of the stripe model.Comment: 4 pages, 5figure

Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in a perpendicular field of quasi two-dimensional CeCoIn5

A Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnkov (FFLO) state was previously reported in the quasi-2D heavy fermion CeCoIn5 when a magnetic field was applied parallel to the ab-plane. Here, we conduct 115^In NMR studies of this material in a PERPENDICULAR field, and provide strong evidence for FFLO in this case as well. Although the topology of the phase transition lines in the H-T phase diagram is identical for both configurations, there are several remarkable differences between them. Compared to H//ab, the FFLO region for H perpendicular to the ab-plane shows a sizable decrease, and the critical field separating the FFLO and non-FFLO superconducting states almost ceases to have a temperature dependence. Moreover, directing H perpendicular to the ab-plane results in a notable change in the quasiparticle excitation spectrum within the planar node associated with the FFLO transition.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Evaluation of the Chemical and Biological Characteristics of Sake Lees

Sake lees (SLs), produced from brewing Japanese Sake and known to be rich in yeast, is expected to be an alternative of feed protein sources for ruminants. Previous studies showed that yeast improved the digestibility of fibers in ruminants. However, the nutrient composition and the numbers of live and dead yeast in the SLs, have large diversity because of the different brewing materials and processes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical and biological characteristics of SLs with diverse brewing processes and storing periods (0-23 weeks). Seven types of SLs (SLs 1-7) were collected from two breweries. SLs 1, 2, 5 and 6 were made from liquefied rice under high-temperature saccharification method and SLs 3, 4 and 7 were made from steamed rice under general multiple parallel fermentation method. The crude protein (CP) contents of SLs from liquefied rice were higher than those from steamed rice (59.3-69.9% vs 32.8-51.4%DM). Ethanol concentrations were in the range of 6.1 to 11.2%FM in SLs 1-5. The numbers of live yeast (×104 CFU/ FM g) were ranged from 1,462 to 6,109 before storing, which dramatically decreased to 0-145 at 4 weeks’ storing at 4℃ in SLs 1-5. The numbers of dead yeast (×109 / FM g) were ranged from 0.7 to 3.0 before storing, which were stable during 4 weeks’ storing showing 0.5-4.6 in SLs 1-5. These results suggested that SLs, especially from liquefied rice, had high CP contents and substantial amounts of ethanol. The live yeast observed drastically disappeared, on the other hand, the numbers of dead yeast were stable under refrigeration. Further study is needed to evaluate the effect of supplementary SLs on digestibility in ruminants especially in roughage feeding condition

Classification of Familiarity Based on Cross-Correlation Features Between EEG and Music

An approach to recognize the familiarity of a listener with music using both the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and the music signal is proposed in this paper. Eight participants listened to melodies produced by piano sounds as simple natural stimuli. We classified the familiarity of each participant using cross-correlation values between EEG and the envelope of the music signal as features of the support vector machine (SVM) or neural network used. Here, we report that the maximum classification accuracy was 100% obtained by the SVM. These results suggest that the familiarity of music can be classified by cross-correlation values. The proposed approach can be used to recognize high-level brain states such as familiarity, preference, and emotion