Responses of Coccidia-Vaccinated Broilers to Essential Oil Blends Supplementation up to Forty-Nine Days of Age

Coccidiosis control may become a greater problem as the use of growth-promoting antibiotics (GPA) and ionophores declines. Vaccination with live oocysts may turn into a popular alternative to the use of coccidiostats in broilers, although cocci vaccination is frequently linked to temporary lower performance in young flocks. This experiment evaluates the dietary supplementation of 2 specific essential oil (EO) blends (Crina Poultry and Crina Alternate), either as alternatives to GPA and ionophores (BMD + Coban) or as feed additives that help to improve the performance of cocci-vaccinated broilers. Live performance and lesion scores were observed. These 2 specific EO blends differ in their efficacy to promote growth. Chickens that were not cocci vaccinated and were fed Crina Poultry had better feed conversion ratio (FCR) than the unmedicated control treatment in the starter period. The same EO improved FCR in cocci-vaccinated birds in the finisher period in comparison to the negative control group, but those responses were not significantly different from other treatments or significant at 49 d of age. No significant differences were observed in lesion scores at 37 d. Diets supplemented with a GPA-ionophore combination consistently supported the best BW gain and FCR in each period and the entire grow-out period. No significant beneficial or deleterious effects on live performance were observed due to these specific EO blends in cocci-vaccinated broilers

Phase-dependent exciton transport and energy harvesting from thermal environments

Non-Markovian effects in the evolution of open quantum systems have recently attracted widespread interest, particularly in the context of assessing the efficiency of energy and charge transfer in nanoscale biomolecular networks and quantum technologies. With the aid of many-body simulation methods, we uncover and analyse an ultrafast environmental process that causes energy relaxation in the reduced system to depend explicitly on the phase relation of the initial state preparation. Remarkably, for particular phases and system parameters, the net energy flow is uphill, transiently violating the principle of detailed balance, and implying that energy is spontaneously taken up from the environment. A theoretical analysis reveals that non-secular contributions, significant only within the environmental correlation time, underlie this effect. This suggests that environmental energy harvesting will be observable across a wide range of coupled quantum systems.Comment: 5 + 4 pages, 3 + 2 figures. Comments welcom

On the Power Allocation Limits for Downlink Multi-user NOMA with QoS

The fundamental power allocation requirements for NOMA systems with minimum quality of service (QoS) requirements are investigated. For any minimum QoS rate $R_0$, the limits on the power allocation coefficients for each user are derived, such that any power allocation coefficient outside of these limits creates an outage with probability equal to 1. The power allocation coefficients that facilitate each user's success of performing successive interference cancellation (SIC) and decoding its own signal are derived, and are found to depend only on the target rate $R_0$ and the number of total users $K$. It is then proven that using these power allocation coefficients create the same outage event as if using orthogonal multiple access (OMA), which proves that the outage performance of NOMA with a fixed-power scheme can matched that of OMA for all users simultaneously. Simulations confirm the theoretical results, and also demonstrate that a power allocation strategy exists that can improve the outage performance of NOMA over OMA, even with a fixed-power strategy.Comment: Presented at Internation Conference on Communications (ICC) 2018 Wireless Communication Symposium, 5 pages long, 2 figure

The connexin mimetic peptide Gap27 and Cx43-Knockdown reveal differential roles for Connexin43 in wound closure events in skin model systems

In the epidermis, remodelling of Connexin43 is a key event in wound closure. However, controversy between the role of connexin channel and non-channel functions exist. We compared the impact of SiRNA targeted to Connexin43 and the connexin mimetic peptide Gap27 on scrape wound closure rates and hemichannel signalling in adult keratinocytes (AK) and fibroblasts sourced from juvenile foreskin (JFF), human neonatal fibroblasts (HNDF) and adult dermal tissue (ADF). The impact of these agents, following 24 h exposure, on (encoding Connexin43), and gene expression, and Connexin43 and pSmad3 protein expression levels, were examined by qPCR and Western Blot respectively. In all cell types Gap27 (100-100 μM) attenuated hemichannel activity. In AK and JFF cells, Gap27 (100 nM-100 μM) enhanced scrape wound closure rates by ~50% but did not influence movement in HNDF or ADF cells. In both JF and AK cells, exposure to Gap27 for 24 h reduced the level of Cx43 protein expression but did not affect the level in ADF and HNDF cells. Connexin43-SiRNA enhanced scrape wound closure in all the cell types under investigation. In HDNF and ADF, Connexin43-SiRNA enhanced cell proliferation rates, with enhanced proliferation also observed following exposure of HDNF to Gap27. By contrast, in JFF and AK cells no changes in proliferation occurred. In JFF cells, Connexin43-SiRNA enhanced levels and in JFF and ADF cells both Connexin43-SiRNA and Gap27 enhanced pSmad3 protein expression levels. We conclude that Connexin43 signalling plays an important role in cell migration in keratinocytes and foreskin derived fibroblasts, however, different pathways are evoked and in dermal derived adult and neonatal fibroblasts, inhibition of Connexin43 signalling plays a more significant role in regulating cell proliferation than cell migration

Crop sequence study of fusarium head blight on wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Canadian prairies

Non-Peer ReviewedFusarium head blight (FHB) has become a major limitation to cereal crop production across much of the prairies in recent years, particularly for bread and durum wheat growers, and the disease is also impacting barley growers. Managing this disease with fungicides and resistant cultivars is not sufficient. A third important strategy of FHB management is the selection and inclusion of non-host crops in the rotation. In this study, our objective is to determine the impact of preceding crop choices on FHB of wheat (spring and durum) and barley, at select locations across western Canada. Crop choices will include common cultivated crops (cereals, pulses and oilseeds), as well as corn, which is increasingly popular in western Canada, particularly in Manitoba at present, and is expected to increase rapidly in Saskatchewan and Alberta over the next decade. The study will document the FHB severity and Fusarium spp., yield and quality (amount of fusarium damaged kernels, toxin content, TKW, TW, protein content and other important grading factors depending on the crop) of the affected cereal crops in each crop sequence. From this information, cereal growers will have information on which to base crop sequence decisions that minimize FHB in cereals in western Canada

Informal paratransit in the Global South

This chapter synthesises current knowledge of informal paratransit services in cities of the Global South and discusses prevailing policy issues and emerging trends. The scope of the chapter is limited to unscheduled public transport and for-hire services operating in whole, or in part, within the informal economy. The chapter focuses on three regions of the Global South: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It reviews current knowledge in relation to business models, regulatory regimes, and operating practices. While illustrating that the sector is heterogeneous across, and within, these regions, this review shows that informal paratransit services are usually operated by small businesses organised into associations that exert varying degrees of self-regulation. Service operations are seldom free of state regulation, but the extent can vary. Operating environments often have considerable infrastructure deficits, and driver employment conditions can be exploitative. Services are, in many cases, a response to gaps left by formal public transport undertakings. Prevailing business models, however, make operators demand-responsive, often providing the only service available to vulnerable groups. It is argued that important policy issues relate to integration with other public transport modes, service quality, and safety improvement. These challenges are compounded by poorly resourced regulatory authorities, often subjected to pervasive corruption. An important emerging trend identified takes the form of potentially disruptive technologies, most commonly in the form of ride-hailing apps. These platforms may have a significant impact on operating practices, and few cities have regulatory frameworks in anticipation of this change. Experience suggests that attempts to change business models and operating practices can be met with resistance. Policy intervention in this sector therefore requires careful analysis of local contexts and options