Supplementation of Mangosteen Pericarp Meal and Vitamin E on Egg Quality and Blood Profile of Laying Hens

This research aimed to study the supplementation effects of mangosteen pericarp meal (MPM) and vitamin E (VE) in the diets on the egg quality and blood profile of laying hens. This research used 160 laying hens of Lohman strains 24 weeks of age. The observation was conducted for 11 weeks. A completely randomized design with four treatments and four replications (10 birds each) was used in this experiment. The treatments consisted of R0 (control diet), R1 (R0 + 1 g MPM/kg ration), R2 (R0 + 2 g MPM/kg ration) and R3 (R0 + 200 mg VE/kg ration). Variables measured were egg quality, yolk cholesterol, and blood profiles. The data were analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and any significant difference between the treatment means were further tested by Duncan's Multiple Range Test. The results showed that supplementation of 1 g MPM/kg ration in the diet significantly (P<0.05) decreased blood triglycerides compared with the control, laying hens fed with diet suplemented with of 2 g MPM/kg ration, and laying hens with diet suplemented with 200 mg VE/kg ration. Supplementation of MPM and VE did not affect (P>0.05) egg quality (except shell thickness), blood cholesterol, and HDL, respectively. In conclusion, supplementation of 1 g MPM/kg in the diet of laying hens could decrease blood triglycerides

On the Fixed-Point Structure of Scalar Fields

In a recent Letter (K.Halpern and K.Huang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 (1995) 3526), certain properties of the Local Potential Approximation (LPA) to the Wilson renormalization group were uncovered, which led the authors to conclude that $D>2$ dimensional scalar field theories endowed with {\sl non-polynomial} interactions allow for a continuum of renormalization group fixed points, and that around the Gaussian fixed point, asymptotically free interactions exist. If true, this could herald very important new physics, particularly for the Higgs sector of the Standard Model. Continuing work in support of these ideas, has motivated us to point out that we previously studied the same properties and showed that they lead to very different conclusions. Indeed, in as much as the statements in hep-th/9406199 are correct, they point to some deep and beautiful facts about the LPA and its generalisations, but however no new physics.Comment: Typos corrected. A Comment - to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 1 page, 1 eps figure, uses LaTeX, RevTex and eps

Arc-like distribution of high CO(J=3-2)/CO(J=1-0) ratio gas surrounding the central star cluster of the supergiant HII region NGC 604

We report the discovery of a high CO(J=3-2)/CO(J=1-0) ratio gas with an arc-like distribution (``high-ratio gas arc'') surrounding the central star cluster of the supergiant HII region NGC 604 in the nearby spiral galaxy M 33, based on multi-J CO observations of a 5' $\times$ 5' region of NGC 604 conducted using the ASTE 10-m and NRO 45-m telescopes. The discovered ``high-ratio gas arc'' extends to the south-east to north-west direction with a size of $\sim$ 200 pc. The western part of the high-ratio gas arc closely coincides well with the shells of the HII regions traced by H$\alpha$ and radio continuum peaks. The CO(J=3-2)/CO(J=1-0) ratio, R_{3-2/1-0}, ranges between 0.3 and 1.2 in the observed region, and the R_{3-2/1-0} values of the high-ratio gas arc are around or higher than unity, indicating very warm (T_kin > 60 K) and dense (n(H_2) > 10^{3-4} cm^{-3}) conditions of the high-ratio gas arc. We suggest that the dense gas formation and second-generation star formation occur in the surrounding gas compressed by the stellar wind and/or supernova of the first-generation stars of NGC 604, i.e., the central star cluster of NGC 604.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres

Calculated Electron Fluxes at Airplane Altitudes

A precision measurement of atmospheric electron fluxes has been performed on a Japanese commercial airliner (Enomoto, {\it et al.}, 1991). We have performed a monte carlo calculation of the cosmic ray secondary electron fluxes expected in this experiment. The monte carlo uses the hadronic portion of our neutrino flux cascade program combined with the electromagnetic cascade portion of the CERN library program GEANT. Our results give good agreement with the data, provided we boost the overall normalization of the primary cosmic ray flux by 12\% over the normalization used in the neutrino flux calculation.Comment: in REVTEX, 12 pages + 4 figures available upon reques

Variability in X-ray line ratios in helium-like ions of massive stars: the radiation-driven case

Line ratios in "fir" triplets of helium-like ions have proven to be a powerful diagnostic of conditions in X-ray emitting gas surrounding massive stars. Recent observations indicate that these ratios can be variable with time. The possible causes of variation in line ratios are limited: changes in the radiation field or changes in density, and changes in mass-loss or geometry. In this paper, we investigate the ability of changes in the radiation field to induce variability in the ratio R=f/i. To isolate the radiative effect, we use a heuristic model of temperature and radius changes in variable stars in the B and O range with low-density, steady-state winds. We model the changes in emissivity of X-ray emitting gas close to the star due to differences in level-pumping from available UV photons at the location of the gas. We find that under these conditions, variability in R is dominated by the stellar temperature. Although the relative amplitude of variability is roughly comparable for most lines at most temperatures, detectable variations are limited to a few lines for each spectral type. We predict that variable values in R due to stellar variability must follow predictable trends found in our simulations. Our model uses radial pulsations as a mode of stellar variability that maximizes the amplitude of variation in R. This model is robust enough to show which ions will provide the best opportunity for observing variability in the f/i ratio at different stellar temperatures, and the correlation of that variability with other observable parameters. In real systems, the effects would be more complex than in our model, with differences in phase and suppressed amplitude in the presence of non-radial pulsations. This suggests that changes in R across many lines concurrently are not likely to be produced by a variable radiation field.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Homogenization of two fluid flow in porous media

The macroscopic behavior of air and water in porous media is often approximated using Richards’ equation for the fluid saturation and pressure. This equation is parametrized by the hydraulic conductivity and water release curve. In this paper, we use homogenization to derive a general model for saturation and pressure in porous media based on an underlying periodic porous structure. Under an appropriate set of assumptions, i.e., constant gas pressure, this model is shown to reduce to the simpler form of Richards’ equation. The starting point for this derivation is the Cahn-Hilliard phase field equation coupled with Stokes equations for fluid flow. This approach allows us, for the first time, to rigorously derive the water release curve and hydraulic conductivities through a series of cell problems. The method captures the hysteresis in the water release curve and ties the macroscopic properties of the porous media to the underlying geometrical and material properties

Scanning wind-vector scatterometers with two pencil beams

A scanning pencil-beam scatterometer for ocean windvector determination has potential advantages over the fan-beam systems used and proposed heretofore. The pencil beam permits use of lower transmitter power, and at the same time allows concurrent use of the reflector by a radiometer to correct for atmospheric attenuation and other radiometers for other purposes. The use of dual beams based on the same scanning reflector permits four looks at each cell on the surface, thereby improving accuracy and allowing alias removal. Simulation results for a spaceborne dual-beam scanning scatterometer with a 1-watt radiated power at an orbital altitude of 900 km is described. Two novel algorithms for removing the aliases in the windvector are described, in addition to an adaptation of the conventional maximum likelihood algorithm. The new algorithms are more effective at alias removal than the conventional one. Measurement errors for the wind speed, assuming perfect alias removal, were found to be less than 10%