Practical experiences with the reduction of prevalence of Salmonella infections in pig herds

Salmonella reduction is an issue with still increasing importance for the swine production. PIC in Germany has already started with specific interventions to reduce Salmonella prevalence in their breeding herds in 2001 – just one year before the “QS Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH” began to set up the serological Salmonella monitoring in German finishing pigs

Supra-oscillatory critical temperature dependence of Nb-Ho bilayers

We investigate the critical temperature Tc of a thin s-wave superconductor (Nb) proximity coupled to a helical rare earth ferromagnet (Ho). As a function of the Ho layer thickness, we observe multiple oscillations of Tc superimposed on a slow decay, that we attribute to the influence of the Ho on the Nb proximity effect. Because of Ho inhomogeneous magnetization, singlet and triplet pair correlations are present in the bilayers. We take both into consideration when solving the self consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, and we observe a reasonable agreement. We also observe non-trivial transitions into the superconducting state, the zero resistance state being attained after two successive transitions which appear to be associated with the magnetic structure of Ho.Comment: Main article: 5 pages, 4 figures; Supplementary materials: 4 pages, 5 figure

The expanding bipolar shell of the helium nova V445 Puppis

From multi-epoch adaptive optics imaging and integral field unit spectroscopy, we report the discovery of an expanding and narrowly confined bipolar shell surrounding the helium nova V445 Puppis (Nova Puppis 2000). An equatorial dust disc obscures the nova remnant, and the outflow is characterized by a large polar outflow velocity of 6720 +/- 650 km s(-1) and knots moving at even larger velocities of 8450 +/- 570 km s(-1). We derive an expansion parallax distance of 8.2 +/- 0.5 kpc and deduce a pre-outburst luminosity of the underlying binary of log L/L-circle dot = 4.34 +/- 0.36. The derived luminosity suggests that V445 Puppis probably contains a massive white dwarf accreting at high rate from a helium star companion making it part of a population of binary stars that potentially lead to supernova Ia explosions due to accumulation of helium-rich material on the surface of a massive white dwarf

Administration of drinking water supplement containing organic acids and medium chain fatty acids to sows significantly reduced incidence of Clostridium-associated diarrhoea in neonatal piglets: a case study

Neonatal diarrhoea in newborn piglets is an important problem in pig production that is frequently diagnosed as being the result of Clostridium perfringens infections. During parturition and in the first hours of life, the sow transmits the pathogen to its offspring. The objective of this study was to examine the possible prophylactic effect of a drinking water supplement containing organic acids and medium chain fatty acids (Selko-4-Health©), administered to sows on prevalence of neonatal diarrhoea in piglets during early lactation. The study was carried out at a farm with 1300 sows with a high incidence of neonatal diarrhoea. Gestating sows received the water supplement (0.1% per litre) daily from day 35 to end of gestation and during the lactation phase for 2 days a week

Studies of resistance switching effects in metal/YBa2Cu3O7-x interface junctions

Current-voltage characteristics of planar junctions formed by an epitaxial c-axis oriented YBa2Cu3O7-x thin film micro-bridge and Ag counter-electrode were measured in the temperature range from 4.2 K to 300 K. A hysteretic behavior related to switching of the junction resistance from a high-resistive to a low-resistive state and vice-versa was observed and analyzed in terms of the maximal current bias and temperature dependence. The same effects were observed on a sub-micrometer scale YBa2Cu3O7-x thin film - PtIr point contact junctions using Scanning Tunneling Microscope. These phenomena are discussed within a diffusion model, describing an oxygen vacancy drift in YBa2Cu3O7-x films in the nano-scale vicinity of the junction interface under applied electrical fields.Comment: To be published in Applied Surface Science