Report on a visit to Bangladesh to initiate a research project entitled improvements in the production of livestock products in peri-urban areas of cities in Asia

This project was established in 1995. It aims to characterise the market for livestock products, examine the outputs and efficiency of livestock production and marketing systems, determine the losses of livestock products in the systems and identify and analyse constraints to and opportunities for the increased supply of livestock products to urban markets

Report on a visit to Bangladesh to supervise the research students undertaking the research project entitled: Improvements in the production of livestock products in peri-urban areas of cities in Asia

D Silverside, J Sherington and N Marsland visited Bangladesh to clean and analyse data collected by research workers during a survey of approximately 100 villages in Sylhet, Mymensingh and Pabna. They assisted with the completion of the first phase of the project, which is to define the urban, peri-urban and rural areas of three study towns. Terms of reference also included the establishment of a work programme for phase 2 and the monitoring of the progress of the research workers. Phase 1 is now complete. The mauzas (small study areas of the towns) have now been defined according to a statistical technique based on census and primary data and may be classified as rural, peri-urban and urban. Phase 1 may now be written up by the researchers into a formal part for their PhD theses. A summary can be found in Appendix 3 of this report. Protocols for Phase 2 have now been established and both questionnaires and checklists of questions have been finalised. These can be found in the Appendix 4 of this report. To conduct the work, enumerators will be required. Their numbers have been established and provision made for them in the budget. A system of data handling has been set up. The researchers have been trained in preparation of forms in Access and this, combined with earlier work on the computers will enable them to enter, manipulate and print out data for the project using up-to-date software packages. Para 25 refers. It was agreed that the researchers will be supervised on a regular basis by their BAU professors. During these supervisory sessions, researchers and professors will discuss project activities, outputs and problems. Communicate by Email with NRI in UK will take place every two weeks. Para 11 refers. A work programme and schedule was left in Bangladesh to be completed before the next NRI team visit. This will take place in October/November 1997. The team will include a socio-economist and computer modeller. Para 27 refers

Electronic Structure, Local Moments and Transport in Fe_2VAl

Local spin density approximation calculations are used to elucidate electronic and magnetic properties of Heusler structure Fe_2VAl. The compound is found to be a low carrier density semimetal. The Fermi surface has small hole pockets derived from a triply degenerate Fe derived state at Gamma compensated by an V derived electron pocket at the X point. The ideal compound is found to be stable against ferromagnetism. Fe impurities on V sites, however, behave as local moments. Because of the separation of the hole and electron pockets the RKKY interaction between such local moments should be rapidly oscillating on the scale of its decay, leading to the likelihood of spin-glass behavior for moderate concentrations of Fe on V sites. These features are discussed in relation to experimental observations of an unusual insulating state in this compound.Comment: 16 pages, RevTeX, 5 figure

Semi-fermionic representation for spin systems under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions

We present a general derivation of semi-fermionic representation for spin operators in terms of a bilinear combination of fermions in real and imaginary time formalisms. The constraint on fermionic occupation numbers is fulfilled by means of imaginary Lagrange multipliers resulting in special shape of quasiparticle distribution functions. We show how Schwinger-Keldysh technique for spin operators is constructed with the help of semi-fermions. We demonstrate how the idea of semi-fermionic representation might be extended to the groups possessing dynamic symmetries (e.g. singlet/triplet transitions in quantum dots). We illustrate the application of semi-fermionic representations for various problems of strongly correlated and mesoscopic physics.Comment: Review article, 40 pages, 11 figure

Resistance to gastro-intestinal parasites in Dorper and Red Maasai-Dorper crossbred sheep

Studies the within-and between-breed differences in resistance to natural infection with gastro-intestinal parasites and identifies genetic markers to aid in the selection of animals. Data analysed include PCV (Packed Cell Volume), live weight from birth to 360 days and faecal egg counts

Antimicrobial Activity and Spectrum of Cefovecin, a New Extended- Spectrum Cephalosporin, against Pathogens Collected from Dogs and Cats in Europe and North America

Cefovecin is a new extended-spectrum semisynthetic cephalosporin indicated for the treatment of bacterial infections in dogs and cats. This study evaluated the in vitro activity and spectrum of cefovecin against 2,641 recent clinical isolates (1,660 canine and 981 feline isolates) from Europe and the United States. MIC determinations against cefovecin and other reference antimicrobials were performed by broth microdilution methods recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, formerly NCCLS). Cefovecin demonstrated bactericidal activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens. Cefovecin exhibited in vitro activity against all major aerobic and anaerobic bacterial pathogens associated with skin, urinary tract, and periodontal infections in dogs and cats. The MIC(90) values of cefovecin against Staphylococcus intermedius, Escherichia coli, and Pasteurella multocida were 0.25 μg/ml, 1.0 μg/ml, and 0.06 μg/ml, respectively. No significant differences were observed in terms of the activities of cefovecin against pathogens from different European countries and against pathogens of European and U.S. origin