Differences in Carcass and Meat Characteristics Between Chicken Indigenous to Northern Thailand (Black-Boned and Thai Native) and Imported Extensive Breeds (Bresse and Rhode Island Red)

This study examined the effects of 4 genotypes of chicken, all suitable for extensive fattening, on carcass and meat quality using 320 chickens divided into 4 equally sized groups. The comparison included 2 indigenous chicken strains from Thailand, Black-boned and Thai native (Thai), and 2 imported chicken breeds, Bresse and Rhode Island Red (Rhode, a layer breed). The animals were fed until 16 wk of age. Breast (pectoralis major) and thigh (biceps femoris) muscles were studied in detail. Chickens of the imported breeds were heavier at slaughter than indigenous strains, especially Black-boned chickens. Proportions of retail cuts with bones were similar among genotypes, whereas deboned breast meat and lean:bone ratio were lowest in the layer breed (Rhode). The meat of the Black-boned chickens was darker than that of the other genotypes. Thai and Rhode chickens had a particularly yellow skin. The ratio of red and intermediate to white fibers was higher in the thigh muscle, and the diameter of all muscle fiber types in both muscles was smaller in the indigenous compared with the imported breeds. The meat of the 2 indigenous Thai strains had lower contents of fat and cholesterol compared with that of the imported breeds, especially relative to the Rhode chickens (thigh meat). The meat of the indigenous origins, especially of the Thai chickens, was higher in shear force and collagen content (thigh only) than meat of the imported breeds. The meat lipids of the Thai chickens had particularly high proportions of n-3 fatty acids and a favorably low n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio compared with the other genotypes. In conclusion, meat of indigenous chickens has some unique features and seems to have more advantages over imported breeds than disadvantages, especially when determined for a niche market serving consumers who prefer chewy, low-fat chicken mea

How Does Policy Conceptualise Citizen Science? A Qualitative Content Analysis of International Policy Documents

Policy and science show great interest in citizen science as a means to public participation in research. To recognize how citizen science is perceived to foster joint working at the science-society-policy interface, a mutual understanding of the term “citizen science” is required. Here, we assess the conceptualisation and strategic use of the term “citizen science” in policy through a qualitative content analysis of 43 international policy documents edited by governments and authorities. Our results show that most documents embrace the diversity of the research approach and emphasize the many benefits that citizen science may provide for science, society, and policy. These include boosting spatio-temporal data collection through volunteers, tapping into distributed knowledge domains, increasing public interest and engagement in research, and enhancing societal relevance of the respective research. In addition, policy documents attribute educational benefits to citizen science by fostering scientific literacy, individual learning, and skill development, as well as by facilitating environmental stewardship. Through active participation, enhanced ownership of research results may improve policy decision-making processes and possibly democratise research as well as public policy processes, although the latter is mentioned only in a few European Union (EU) documents. Challenges of citizen science mentioned in the analysed policy documents relate mainly to data quality and management, to organisational and governance issues, and to difficulties of the uptake of citizen science results into actual policy implementation due to a lack of citizen science alignment with current policy structures and agendas. Interestingly, documents largely fail to address the benefits and challenges of citizen science as a tool for policy development, i.e., citizen science is mainly perceived as only a science tool. Overall, policy documents seem to be influenced strongly by the citizen science discourse in the science sector, which indicates a joint advocacy for citizen science

Stability and electronic structure of the complex K2_2PtCl6_6 structure-type hydrides

The stability and bonding of the ternary complex K$_2$PtCl$_6$ structure hydrides is discussed using first principles density functional calculations. The cohesion is dominated by ionic contributions, but ligand field effects are important, and are responsible for the 18-electron rule. Similarities to oxides are discussed in terms of the electronic structure. However, phonon calculations for Sr$_2$RuH$_6$ also show differences, particularly in the polarizability of the RuH$_6$ octahedra. Nevertheless, the yet to be made compounds Pb$_2$RuH$_6$ and Be$_2$FeH$_6$ are possible ferroelectrics. The electronic structure and magnetic properties of the decomposition product, FeBe$_2$ are reported. Implications of the results for H storage are discussed

Tree balance indices: a comprehensive survey

Tree balance plays an important role in phylogenetics and other research areas, which is why several indices to measure tree balance have been introduced over the years. Nevertheless, a formal definition of what a balance index actually is and what makes it a useful measure of balance (or, in other cases, imbalance), has so far not been introduced in the literature. While the established indices all summarize the (im)balance of a tree in a single number, they vary in their definitions and underlying principles. It is the aim of the present manuscript to introduce formal definitions of balance and imbalance indices that classify desirable properties of such indices and to analyze and categorize established indices accordingly. In this regard, we review 19 established (im)balance indices from the literature, summarize their general, statistical and combinatorial properties (where known), prove numerous additional results and indicate directions for future research by making explicit open questions and gaps in the literature. We also prove that a few tree shape statistics that have been used to measure tree balance in the literature do not fulfill our definition of an (im)balance index, which might indicate that their properties are not as useful for practical purposes. Moreover, we show that five additional tree shape statistics from other contexts actually are tree (im)balance indices according to our definition. The manuscript is accompanied by the website containing fact sheets of the discussed indices. Moreover, we introduce the software package \verb|treebalance| implemented in R that can be used to calculate all indices discussed.1 Introduction 2 Preliminaries 3 Summary of tree balance indices 4 Obtaining new balance indices from established indices 5 Normalizing balance indices 6 Related concepts 7 Software 8 Discussion and outlook 9 Fact sheet

Yang-Yang thermodynamics on an atom chip

We investigate the behavior of a weakly interacting nearly one-dimensional (1D) trapped Bose gas at finite temperature. We perform in situ measurements of spatial density profiles and show that they are very well described by a model based on exact solutions obtained using the Yang-Yang thermodynamic formalism, in a regime where other, approximate theoretical approaches fail. We use Bose-gas focusing [Shvarchuck etal., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 270404 (2002)] to probe the axial momentum distribution of the gas, and find good agreement with the in situ results.Comment: extended introduction and conclusions, and minor changes throughout; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Cribriform Morular Thyroid Carcinoma - Ultimobranchial Pouch-Related? Deep Molecular Insights of a Unique Case.

A 44-year-old female patient with a familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) was diagnosed with a cribriform morular thyroid carcinoma (CMTC). We observed within the very necrotic tumor a small but distinct poorly differentiated carcinomatous component. As expected, next generation sequencing of both components revealed a homozygous APC mutation and in addition, a TERT promoter mutation. A TP53 mutation was found exclusively in the CMTC part, while the poorly differentiated component showed a clonal evolution, harboring an activating PIK3CA mutation and copy number gains of BRCA2, FGF23, FGFR1, and PIK3CB-alterations which are typically seen in squamous cell carcinoma. The mutational burden in both components was low, and there was no evidence for microsatellite instability. No mutations involving the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, typically seen in papillary thyroid carcinomas, were detected. Immunohistochemically, all tumor parts were negative for thyroglobulin, providing further evidence that this entity does not belong to the follicular epithelial cell-derived thyroid carcinoma group. CD5 was negative in the poorly differentiated component, making a relation to intrathyroidal thymic carcinoma rather unlikely. However, since this marker was seen in the morules, a loss in the poorly differentiated component and a relation to the ultimobranchial body cannot be excluded either. After total thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation, the patient was disease-free with no residual tumor burden on 2-year follow-up

Box traps on an atom chip for one-dimensional quantum gases

We present the implementation of tailored trapping potentials for ultracold gases on an atom chip. We realize highly elongated traps with box-like confinement along the long, axial direction combined with conventional harmonic confinement along the two radial directions. The design, fabrication and characterization of the atom chip and the box traps is described. We load ultracold ($\lesssim1 \mu$K) clouds of $^{87}$Rb in a box trap, and demonstrate Bose-gas focusing as a means to characterize these atomic clouds in arbitrarily shaped potentials. Our results show that box-like axial potentials on atom chips are very promising for studies of one-dimensional quantum gases.Comment: 9 pages 4 figure