2,337 research outputs found
Main technical differences in the processing of broilers: a comparison between slaughterhouses in Brazil and UK
Rapid technological advances in chicken processing in plants around the world have meant that different techniques are being employed regarding the slaughter’s flow process. This paper aimed to compare and contrast systems and practices in two large slaughterhouses—one in UK and the other in Brazil. Annotated observations were made during inspection visits to chicken slaughterhouses in the two countries between 2014 and 2016. Whilst there were similarities in the two systems, there are also clear differences. The Brazilian case is evidently adapted for a more tropical condition, rather than the temperate one in UK. The handling practices of birds used during transportation, waiting, stunning as well as pre-cooling differ in techniques employed and consequently likely their efficiencies. In UK, the practices are more geared towards water and energy saving. The difference in market conditions and the length of the respective supply chains also determine the type of primary packaging used in final products. Both countries adhere to similar rulings applied to slaughterhouses. However, in the Brazilian case, it tended to comply with mainly external market demands. In conclusion, managers in the Brazilian poultry system could consider looking into adopting some of the practices used in UK, such as cage/crate dimension which reduce bird’s lesions and bruises; the use of stunning by modified atmosphere and pre-cooling for resource efficiency reasons and improvement in animal welfare. Finally, when distances between sites of production and consumption are great such as in Brazil, the use of modified atmosphere technology could be also further explored to ensure better quality of the final product
Gravitational non-commutativity and G\"odel-like spacetimes
We derive general conditions under which geodesics of stationary spacetimes
resemble trajectories of charged particles in an electromagnetic field. For
large curvatures (analogous to strong magnetic fields), the quantum
mechanicical states of these particles are confined to gravitational analogs of
{\it lowest Landau levels}. Furthermore, there is an effective
non-commutativity between their spatial coordinates. We point out that the
Som-Raychaudhuri and G\"odel spacetime and its generalisations are precisely of
the above type and compute the effective non-commutativities that they induce.
We show that the non-commutativity for G\"odel spacetime is identical to that
on the fuzzy sphere. Finally, we show how the star product naturally emerges in
Som-Raychaudhuri spacetimes.Comment: Two sections added (Relation to the fuzzy sphere, Emergence of the
star product). 10 pages, Revtex. To appear in General Relativity and
Gravitatio
Idosos institucionalizados no concelho de Viseu: Hábitos alimentares
O envelhecimento da população, bem como a alteração da dinâmica da famÃlia, têm contribuÃdo diretamente para o aumento do número de idosos institucionalizados. A incidência da desnutrição alcança nÃveis elevados nestes idosos, sendo essencial o seu diagnóstico precoce para a melhoria da sua qualidade de vida. Constitui objetivo primordial do estudo a avaliação do estado nutricional de idosos institucionalizados no concelho de Viseu, Portugal. A amostra (n=120) é constituÃda por idosos de ambos os sexos, institucionalizados, com idade igual ou superior a 65 anos, com capacidade para se colocar de pé, sem demência e que não sejam portadores de patologia passÃvel de afetar a digestão, absorção ou utilização dos nutrientes. A avaliação do estado nutricional é determinada tendo em conta parâmetros antropométricos e dietéticos, através da avaliação da ingestão alimentar (registo de 3 dias) e Mini Nutricional Assessment (MNA). Os questionários aplicados estão validados para a população portuguesa idosa e foram aplicados após consentimento informado. Considerou-se um nÃvel de confiança de 95%. A amostra estudada é maioritariamente feminina (70,0%), com uma idade média de 82,4±6,4 anos. A determinação do IMC mostrou que 12,5% dos idosos avaliados têm baixo peso (IMC 17,7±1,3); 46,7% são eutróficos (IMC 19,9±0,5); 11,7% apresentam excesso de peso (IMC 22,1±0,7), sendo 29,1% classificados como obesos (IMC 28,8±4,2). O MNA mostra que 65% dos idosos apresenta estado nutricional normal, estando sob risco de desnutrição 33,3%, verificando-se, este risco de desnutrição ser superior nos idosos ≥ 75 anos e na população feminina (3:1). A ingestão energética média por dia é significativamente inferior à recomendada (p≤0,05), sendo a ingesta de proteÃna e hidratos de carbono superior aos valores recomendados para a população (p≤0,05). O consumo lipÃdico é maioritariamente normolipÃdico (54,1%), devendo-se a um consumo reduzido de ácidos gordos monosaturados vs. polinsaturados.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Evaluation of trace elements mobility from soils to sediments between the Iberian pyrite belt and the Atlantic Ocean
An environmental study was conducted in 193 stream sediments and 355 soil samples collected in the lower
section of Guadiana River Basin to evaluate the trace elements transfer from one compartment into another.
The objective was to evaluate the dispersion of Pb, Cu, Zn and other chemical elements resulting from upstream
mines into the lower N-S sector of the Guadiana River Basin to the Atlantic Ocean. The area partly includes
the Iberian Pyrite Belt, a known volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) province with important
mining activity history. Median concentrations of the elements Cu, Pb, Zn, Al, As, Ba, Br, Ca, Mg, Mn and Na
are generally higher in the studied sediments than in soils. Soils are normally acidic and mobility of elements
is in these conditions higher. When the relations between upstream soils and downstream sediments were
established, median values were higher in the upstream soils only for elements such as Co, Ni, K, Pb, Mn
and Ti, probably the less mobile, and the Cu, Zn, Al, As, Ba, Br, Ca, Cr, Fe, Mg and Na have highest concentrations
in the downstream sediments.
Lead was considered the less mobile element and Zn the highly mobile of the base metals in the mining area
of the lower Guadiana River. Dispersion of the metals, considering the studied soil and sediment samples is
partially restricted to the mining areas or downstream sediments but close to the mine sources, where ore
tailings and acid waters occur. Near the mouth, concentrations of As, Cu, Pb and Zn increase in relation
with mining and other pollution sources. Interaction with salt water forces chemical elements precipitation
from water and subsequent increase of their concentration in sediments. This may be the reason for the increase
of those chemical elements concentrations in the sediment
Biallelic GINS2 variant p.(Arg114Leu) causes Meier-Gorlin syndrome with craniosynostosis
Contains fulltext :
284813.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)INTRODUCTION: Replication of the nuclear genome is an essential step for cell division. Pathogenic variants in genes coding for highly conserved components of the DNA replication machinery cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGORS). OBJECTIVE: Identification of novel genes associated with MGORS. METHODS: Exome sequencing was performed to investigate the genotype of an individual presenting with prenatal and postnatal growth restriction, a craniofacial gestalt of MGORS and coronal craniosynostosis. The analysis of the candidate variants employed bioinformatic tools, in silico structural protein analysis and modelling in budding yeast. RESULTS: A novel homozygous missense variant NM_016095.2:c.341G>T, p.(Arg114Leu), in GINS2 was identified. Both non-consanguineous healthy parents carried this variant. Bioinformatic analysis supports its classification as pathogenic. Functional analyses using yeast showed that this variant increases sensitivity to nicotinamide, a compound that interferes with DNA replication processes. The phylogenetically highly conserved residue p.Arg114 localises at the docking site of CDC45 and MCM5 at GINS2. Moreover, the missense change possibly disrupts the effective interaction between the GINS complex and CDC45, which is necessary for the CMG helicase complex (Cdc45/MCM2-7/GINS) to accurately operate. Interestingly, our patient's phenotype is strikingly similar to the phenotype of patients with CDC45-related MGORS, particularly those with craniosynostosis, mild short stature and patellar hypoplasia. CONCLUSION: GINS2 is a new disease-associated gene, expanding the genetic aetiology of MGORS
Edge wetting of an Ising three-dimensional system
The effect of edge on wetting and layering transitions of a three-dimensional
spin-1/2 Ising model is investigated, in the presence of longitudinal and
surface magnetic fields, using mean field (MF) theory and Monte Carlo (MC)
simulations. For T=0, the ground state phase diagram shows that there exist
only three allowed transitions, namely: surface and bulk transition, surface
transition and bulk transition. However, there exist a surface intra-layering
temperature , above which the surface and the intra-layering surface
transitions occur. While the bulk layering and intra-layering transitions
appear above an other finite temperature . These
surface and bulk intra-layering transitions are not seen in the perfect
surfaces case.
Numerical values of and , computed by Monte Carlo
method are found to be smaller than those obtained using mean field theory.
However, the results predicted by the two methods become similar, and are
exactly those given by the ground state phase diagram, for very low
temperatures. On the other hand, the behavior of the local magnetizations as a
function of the external magnetic field, shows that the transitions are of the
first order type. and decrease when increasing the
system size and/or the surface magnetic field. In particular,
reaches the wetting temperature for sufficiently large system sizes.Comment: 11 Pages latex, 12 Figures P
Statistical mechanics of the random K-SAT model
The Random K-Satisfiability Problem, consisting in verifying the existence of
an assignment of N Boolean variables that satisfy a set of M=alpha N random
logical clauses containing K variables each, is studied using the replica
symmetric framework of diluted disordered systems. We present an exact
iterative scheme for the replica symmetric functional order parameter together
for the different cases of interest K=2, K>= 3 and K>>1. The calculation of the
number of solutions, which allowed us [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3881 (1996)] to
predict a first order jump at the threshold where the Boolean expressions
become unsatisfiable with probability one, is thoroughly displayed. In the case
K=2, the (rigorously known) critical value (alpha=1) of the number of clauses
per Boolean variable is recovered while for K>=3 we show that the system
exhibits a replica symmetry breaking transition. The annealed approximation is
proven to be exact for large K.Comment: 34 pages + 1 table + 8 fig., submitted to Phys. Rev. E, new section
added and references update
Phase diagram of a probabilistic cellular automaton with three-site interactions
We study a (1+1) dimensional probabilistic cellular automaton that is closely
related to the Domany-Kinzel (DKCA), but in which the update of a given site
depends on the state of {\it three} sites at the previous time step. Thus,
compared with the DKCA, there is an additional parameter, , representing
the probability for a site to be active at time , given that its nearest
neighbors and itself were active at time . We study phase transitions and
critical behavior for the activity {\it and} for damage spreading, using one-
and two-site mean-field approximations, and simulations, for and
. We find evidence for a line of tricritical points in the () parameter space, obtained using a mean-field approximation at pair level.
To construct the phase diagram in simulations we employ the growth-exponent
method in an interface representation. For , the phase diagram is
similar to the DKCA, but the damage spreading transition exhibits a reentrant
phase. For , the growth-exponent method reproduces the two absorbing
states, first and second-order phase transitions, bicritical point, and damage
spreading transition recently identified by Bagnoli {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev.
E{\bf 63}, 046116 (2001)].Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submited to PR
Analysing Lyapunov spectra of chaotic dynamical systems
It is shown that the asymptotic spectra of finite-time Lyapunov exponents of
a variety of fully chaotic dynamical systems can be understood in terms of a
statistical analysis. Using random matrix theory we derive numerical and in
particular analytical results which provide insights into the overall behaviour
of the Lyapunov exponents particularly for strange attractors. The
corresponding distributions for the unstable periodic orbits are investigated
for comparison.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Tolerância à acidez e alumÃnio tóxico por isolados de rizóbios de solos no Amazonas, Brasil
- …