Does feeding of young female reindeer affect their weight, condition and gestation?

Vinterutfodring av renar (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) har blivit allt vanligare. Ökad nederbörd, växlande temperaturer och konkurrerande markanvändning av betesmarker, tex ökat skogsbruk och gruvor, har under de senaste decennierna resulterat i att det blir svårare för renen att finna bra vinterbete. Syftet med detta arbete var att undersöka om det fanns någon skillnad i vikt, kondition och dräktighet mellan honkalvar utfodrade i hägn under sin första levnadsvinter och en kontrollgrupp som betat fritt tillsammans med resten av renhjorden sin första vinter. Data från 90 renar som ingick i projektet ”Reinfeed” användes i arbetet. De utfodrade honkalvarna hade en signifikant högre (P=0,02) medelvikt (61± 5,5 kg) än honkalvarna i kontrollgruppen (58 ± 5,1 kg). Dessutom hade dräktiga renar en signifikant högre medelvikt än ej dräktiga. Detta gällde för både utfodrade renar och renar i kontrollgruppen. Ingen skillnad i kondition fanns mellan utfodrade renar och kontrollgruppen (P=0,26). Mellan dräktiga och ej dräktiga sågs en skillnad där dräktiga renar hade en bättre kondition än ej dräktiga renar (P=0,006). Det fanns ingen signifikant skillnad (P=0,87) i andel dräktiga mellan de utfodrade honkalvarna (65 % dräktiga) och honkalvarna i kontrollgruppen (69 % dräktiga).Supplemental feeding of reindeer has in recent years become more common. A changed climate and competitive use over grazing grounds, for example forestry and mining, has made it more difficult for the reindeer to find good winter pastures. The aim of this study was to compare weight, body condition and gestation between female calves that had been given supplemental feeding and a control group free-ranging on the pasture. Data from reindeer part of the Reinfeed-project was used in this study. Ninety female calves were included in the study. They were divided into two groups, one group that was fed in corrals their first winter and one group that was grazing freely their first winter. There was a higher average weight among the fed reindeer, 61 (±5,5) kg compared to the control group 58 (±5,1) kg, which is a statistical difference (P=0,02). Gestational reindeer also had a higher average weight that non gestational reindeer, and this applied to both groups. No significant difference in body condition was found between the two groups (P=0,26). Gestational reindeers had a bettercondition than non-gestational reindeer (P=0,006). Nor was there any difference in gestation between the two groups. 65 % of the fed calves were gestational and 69 % of the calves in the control group

On striatum in silico

The basal ganglia are a collection of subcortical nuclei involved in movement and action selection. The striatum is the main input nucleus with extensive projections from the cortex and thalamus, and dopaminergic projections from SNc and VTA. The two main cell types are the striatal projection neurons (SPNs), which are divided into the direct (dSPN) and indirect (iSPN) pathways, based on the downstream projections and the expression of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors, respectively. The remaining 5% consists mainly of GABAergic interneurons, such as parvalbumin-expressing fastspiking interneurons (FS) and low threshold spiking interneurons (LTS). The cholinergic interneuron (ChIN) is spontaneously active and unlike the other interneurons releases acetylcholine. This thesis is focused on investigating the function of the striatum and the role of SPNs and the striatal interneurons. This is achieved by building a platform, tools, and a database of multi-compartmental models of SPN, FS, ChIN, and LTS; and through simulations systematically uncovering the roles of these striatal neuron types and external input and, more specifically, the role of neuromodulation and intrastriatal inhibition. In Paper I, Snudda, a platform for simulating large-scale networks, is developed and includes multicompartmental models of dSPN, iSPN, FS, LTS, and ChIN. The tools include methods to generate external input from the cortex and thalamus; and dopaminergic modulation from SNc. Paper II investigates the relationship between ChIN and LTS. The ChIN releases ACh, which activates both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors within the striatum. The dominating effect on LTS is inhibition caused by muscarinic M4 receptors. LTS, on the other hand, releases NO which excites ChINs. Paper II showed that the interaction between these neuromodulators could control the activity of ChIN and LTS, which are generally spontaneously active. In the subsequent Paper III, Snudda was complemented with the neuromodulation package called Neuromodcell, a Python Package, for creating models of neuromodulation, which can be included in large-scale network simulations in Snudda. The method of simulating neuromodulators in Snudda was expanded to include multiple simultaneously active modulators. This resulted in several simulations with simultaneous ACh pause with DA burst as well as an ACh burst with a DA burst. In Paper IV, the effect of intrastriatal surround inhibition on striatal activity was investigated by utilizing ablations, clustered input, dopaminergic modulation, and other features in Snudda. These simulations demonstrated that shunting inhibition could reduce the amplitude of corticostriatal input onto SPNs. The surround inhibition can further modulate the plateau potentials in SPNs, which is dependent on the GABA reversal. Lastly, the competition between populations of SPNs can be modified by varying the strength, size, and positions of populations. Furthermore, dopaminergic modulation can enhance the effect of dSPNs, while increasing the inhibition onto iSPNs. Overall, this thesis provides an analysis of the striatal microcircuit and a tool for further investigations of the striatum in silico; and demonstrates the importance to consider the different components of the striatal microcircuit and how neuromodulators can reshape microcircuits on both single neuron and network levels

A nonadiabatic semi-classical method for dynamics of atoms in optical lattices

We develop a semi-classical method to simulate the motion of atoms in a dissipative optical lattice. Our method treats the internal states of the atom quantum mechanically, including all nonadiabatic couplings, while position and momentum are treated as classical variables. We test our method in the one-dimensional case. Excellent agreement with fully quantum mechanical simulations is found. Our results are much more accurate than those of earlier semi-classical methods based on the adiabatic approximation.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to European Physical Journal

Relationships between Process Parameters, Microstructure and Adhesion Strength of HVOF Sprayed IN718 Coatings

Fundamental understanding of relationships between process parameters, particle in-flight characteristics and adhesion strength of HVOF sprayed coatings is important to achieve the high coating adhesion that is needed in aeronautic repair applications. In this study statistical Design of Experiments (DoE) was utilized to identify the most important process parameters that influence adhesion strength of IN718 coatings sprayed on IN718 substrates. Special attention was given to the parameters combustion ratio, total gas mass flow, spray distance and external cooling, since these parameters were assumed to have a significant influence on particle temperature and velocity. Relationships between these parameters and coating microstructure were evaluated to fundamentally understand the relationships between process parameters and adhesion strength

CLEANING HIGH-SPEED MARINE SEPARATORS WITH AN ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY CIP AGENT

The present contribution is devoted to the cleaning of high-speed marine separators employing the environmentally-friendly Cleaning In Place (CIP) agent Alpacon Multi Cip Super. For this particular study an Alfa Laval lube oil separator of type S831 on board the ship MS Isabella was dismantled prior to its first CIP treatment since installation and a few of the sludge-coated insert discs were taken as samples for laboratory experiments. Following assembly, the separator was cleaned according to a standard CIP protocol. Back in the laboratory, experiments mimicking the field CIP conditions verified the excellent cleaning results observed by visual inspection out on the ship after the CIP treatment