GRASS UTILIZATION IN GROWING FINISHING BÍSARO PIGS (85-107 KG). PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS COMPOSITION

The use of different quantities of vegetables, forages or fresh grass as fodder for growing-finishing pigs is an important factor of the northern Portugal traditional system. The increasing development of swine production in outdoor systems, extensive and organic production, turns to upcoming natural diets, in which grass performs a significant part. With regard to this, some investigation has been made concerning the use of fibre-rich feed ingredients in pig nutrition. Metabolic effects of its ingestion are analysed concerning different sights (economical, social, environmental and physiological ones). The aim of this work was to study the effects of grass utilization in the diets on performances of finishing Bísaro pigs. A total of 22 pigs (16 castrated males and 6 females) was housed outdoor and fed ad libitum (37 – 85 kg live weight) with a growing diet and then transferred to an indoor system (with free access to an outdoor area) for 49 days, according to 3 different treatments: 100% concentrate (C), 75% concentrate + ad libitum grass (CE75), 50% concentrate + ad libitum grass (CE50). The grass was supplied and its intake registered on a daily basis. Every 14 days, the pigs were weighted and their back fat (P2 in vivo) measured. After slaughter (average weight of 107 kg LW), yield and ½ left carcass characteristics were controlled. During the outdoor growing phase, the ADG was 513 g/day. During the indoor finishing phase, the increase grass intake was proportional to the reduction of concentrate in the diet. The ADG (g) and the fat deposition (P2 cm) were significantly different (P<0,05) in the 3 treatments (ADG: C=641, CE75=467, CE50=356 and: C=11,4, CE75=+9,5, CE50=+6,2). The empty body weight (kg) was also proportional to the intake of concentrate (C=116,2; CE75=107,7; CE50=102,2). Comparatively to the weight of the body parts, pigs that had higher intake of grass and lower of concentrate showed a higher % of shoulder (P<0,05; C=20,4, CE75=21,7, CE50=22,2) and the pH45min of CE carcasses was significantly higher (P<0,05). As a conclusion, concentrate substitution for grass showed a slower growing rate, thinner carcasses and a high technological quality. Neverthelles variability (CV %) of the productive parameters at the end of this study were higher in the treatments that included grass: live weight (C= 10,5%; C75=10,7%; C50=14,3%), finishing ADG (C=24%; C75=37%, C50=42%), and final fat (C=37%; C75=32%, C50=52%). These values suggest that the utilization of fibrous feeds in growing-finishing swine may be one of the possible explanations of the more heterogeneous products and carcasses found in the traditional or extensive systems, common users of fibrous feeds in the carcass finishing phase

Standardized assessment of psychosocial factors and their influence on medically confirmed health outcomes in workers: a systematic review

Findings on health-related work outcomes [28–37]. (DOCX 27.8 kb

Robust mobile robot localization based on a security laser: An industry case study

This paper aims to address a mobile robot localization system that avoids using a dedicated laser scanner, making it possible to reduce implementation costs and the robot's size. The system has enough precision and robustness to meet the requirements of industrial environments. Design/methodology/approach - Using an algorithm for artificial beacon detection combined with a Kalman Filter and an outlier rejection method, it was possible to enhance the precision and robustness of the overall localization system. Findings - Usually, industrial automatic guide vehicles feature two kinds of lasers: one for navigation placed on top of the robot and another for obstacle detection (security lasers). Recently, security lasers extended their output data with obstacle distance (contours) and reflectivity. These new features made it possible to develop a novel localization system based on a security laser. Research limitations/implications - Once the proposed methodology is completely validated, in the future, a scheme for global localization and failure detection should be addressed. Practical implications - This paper presents a comparison between the presented approach and a commercial localization system for industry. The proposed algorithms were tested in an industrial application under realistic working conditions. Social implications - The presented methodology represents a gain in the effective cost of the mobile robot platform, as it discards the need for a dedicated laser for localization purposes. Originality/value - This paper presents a novel approach that benefits from the presence of a security laser on mobile robots (mandatory sensor when considering industrial applications), using it simultaneously with other sensors, not only to guarantee safety conditions during operation but also to locate the robot in the environment. This paper is also valuable because of the comparison made with a commercialized system, as well as the tests conducted in real industrial environments, which prove that the approach presented is suitable for working under these demanding conditions.Project "TEC4Growth" - Pervasive Intelligence, Enhancers and Proofs of Concept with Industrial Impact/NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000020" is fnanced by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysing the Portuguese urban system from a quality of life viewpoint

The idea of studying positive and negative features involved in city living is not new. Relevant works, as the classical “Where to live in Britain in 1988”, by Findlay et al., stressed the importance of several quality of life dimensions. In Portugal, a research team based in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minho developed in 1998-2000 a study on quality of life in the major eighteen Portuguese cities. Results of the evaluation models developed for the dimensions considered were integrated in a quality of life grand index and mapped through a GIS system. This paper presents the quality of life surfaces developed for Portugal. In particular, it explores the overlay of quality of life and population density surfaces, attempting to find out the relationship between both

Systematic mapping literature review of mobile robotics competitions

This paper presents a systematic mapping literature review about the mobile robotics competitions that took place over the last few decades in order to obtain an overview of the main objectives, target public, challenges, technologies used and final application area to show how these competitions have been contributing to education. In the review we found 673 papers from 5 different databases and at the end of the process, 75 papers were classified to extract all the relevant information using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. More than 50 mobile robotics competitions were found and it was possible to analyze most of the competitions in detail in order to answer the research questions, finding the main goals, target public, challenges, technologies and application area, mainly in education.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

2D cloud template matching - a comparison between iterative closest point and perfect match

Self-localization of mobile robots in the environment is one of the most fundamental problems in the robotics field. It is a complex and challenging problem due to the high requirements of autonomous mobile vehicles, particularly with regard to algorithms accuracy, robustness and computational efficiency. In this paper we present the comparison of two of the most used map-matching algorithm, which are the Iterative Closest Point and the Perfect Match. This category of algorithms are normally applied in localization based on natural landmarks. They were compared using an extensive collection of metrics, such as accuracy, computational efficiency, convergence speed, maximum admissible initialization error and robustness to outliers in the robots sensors data. The test results were performed in both simulated and real world environments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

BioRePortAP, an electronic clinical record coupled with a database : an example of its use in a single

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists in the Rheumatology Department of Hospital de Santa Maria using the BioRePortAP. Methods: The Portuguese Society of Rheumatology (SPR) developed an electronic medical chart coupled with a database for the follow up of PsA patients, the BioRePortAP, which was launched in May 2009. This evaluation was based on all the PsA patients that were on active treatment with TNF antagonists in September 2009 and were registered in the BioRePortAP. All the previous data on these patients were introduced in BioRePortAP using the prospective paper based follow up protocol that this Department was using since 1999. Only patients with more than 9 months of treatment were analyzed. Results: Forty-two patients with PsA, actively treated with anti-TNF agents in September 2009, for at least 9 months, were analyzed in BioRePortAP. Twenty-three patients were male (55%) and nineteen were female (45%). The average age of these patients was 49.8±10.9 years old, the average disease duration was of 10.7±5.6 years and the mean duration of biological therapy was of 37.8±27.8 months. For the 81% of patients with peripheral joint disease there was a mean reduction of more than 80% in the swollen and tender joint counts, and almost 50% in the health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) value. In the 19% of the patients with axial involvement the reduction of BASDAI and BASFI was not statistically significative. On top of that, PASI score suffered a reduction of 64%. Fourteen patients (33.3%) had to switch their TNF antagonist treatment. 58.8% of the switches were due to adverse effects and 41.2% due to therapy failure. Regarding the 56 adverse reactions registered, only one was a severe reaction. The remaining adverse reactions were not severe and 67% of them were due to infections. Discussion: The results of this first report of the use of the BioRePortAP in clinical practice confirm the efficacy and safety of TNF antagonist treatment in PsA. The results shown here elucidate the potential applications of BioRePortAP as a tool for efficacy and safety assessment of PsA patients treated with biotechnological drugs

Numerical study of the optimal nozzle width and jet orientation in a downward blowing air curtain

This paper presents a numerical study of the performance of an air curtain device (ACD) installed on top of the access door of a refrigerated room, aiming to quantify the influence of some parameters (nozzle width, initial orientation and discharge velocity of the jet) towards the maximization of the sealing effect. For this purpose, a numerical model was developed to simulate the turbulent non-isothermal 3D airflow generated by the ACD jet, focusing on the period after the door is opened. The situation when the ACD is switched off is taken as the reference for the performance evaluation. The results allow identifying an optimum jet nozzle width corresponding to maximum sealing efficiency and lower jet airflow rate (lower energy consumption in the air curtain operation). For the present conditions (ACD installed outside the refrigerated room), the sealing efficiency is highest with the ACD oriented vertically and is practically unaffected if the jet discharge is directed towards the warmer space. On the contrary, a jet discharged towards the cooler space is very detrimental to the ACD sealing effectinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cable robot for non-standard architecture and construction: A dynamic positioning system

In the past few years, cable-driven robots have received some attention by the scientific community and the industry. They have special characteristics that made them very reliable to operate with the level of safeness that is required by different environments, such as, handling of hazardous materials in construction sites. This paper presents a cable-driven robot called SPIDERobot, that was developed for automated construction of architectural projects. This robot has a rotating claw and it is controlled by a set of 4 cables that allow 4 degrees of freedom. In addition to the robot, this paper introduces a Dynamic Control System (DCS) that controls the positioning of the robot and assures that the length of cables is always within a safe value. Results show that traditional force-feasible approaches are more influenced by the pulling forces or the geometric arrangement of all cables and their positioning is significantly less accurate than the DCS. Therefore, the architecture of the SPIDERobot is designed to enable an easily scaling up of the solution to higher dimensions for operating in realistic environments.This work is partly funded by the project PTDC/ATPAQI/ 5124/2012 - Robotic Technologies for Non-Standard Design and Construction in Architecture. This work is also financed by the ERDF European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within project ”FCOMP - 01-0124-FEDER-022701”info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio