Component digestibility of lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) and pea (Pisum sativum) seeds and effects on the small intestine and body organs in anastomosed and intact growing pigs.

Thirty-six male growing pigs were used to compare the component digestibility of legume seeds and the impact of diets and ileo-rectal anastomosis (IRA) on the morphology and enzyme activities of intestinal mucosa. The pigs were fed a control (C) diet based on casein or a diet in which 60% of crude protein (CP) was supplied by blue lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) (L) or pea (Pisum sativum) (P) seeds. Coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of organic matter (OM), CP and gross energy (GE) was lower in the L diet compared to the control diet. The pea-based diet presented intermediate CTTAD values of OM and GE. Coefficient of ileal apparent digestibility (CIAD) of OM and GE was lower in the legume-containing diets than with C. No significant differences were found for the CIAD of CP There was a significant interaction between diet and IRA for villus height in the jejunum and crypt width in the ileum. Duodenal and jejunal crypt width was lower in the pigs fed the legume-containing diets compared to controls. The diet influenced the specific activity of most intestinal enzymes at various sites along the small intestine. Anastomosed pigs had higher spleen and small intestine weights and lower large intestine weights as compared to intact pigs. IRA influenced intestinal villus and crypt architecture but it had no significant effect on the activities of intestinal enzymes. (Résumé d'auteur

Dimensions of professional competences for interventions towards sustainability

This paper investigates sustainability competences through the eyes of professional practitioners in the field of sustainability and presents empirical data that have been created using an action research approach. The design of the study consists of two workshops, in which professional practitioners in interaction with each other and the facilitators are invited to explore and reflect on the specific knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours necessary to conduct change processes successfully towards sustainability in a variety of business and professional contexts. The research focuses on the competences associated with these change processes to devise, propose and conduct appropriate interventions that address sustainability issues. Labelled ‘intervention competence’, this ability comprises an interlocking set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours that include: appreciating the importance of (trying to) reaching decisions or interventions; being able to learn from lived experience of practice and to connect such learning to one’s own scientific knowledge; being able to engage in political-strategic thinking, deliberations and actions, related to different perspectives; the ability for showing goal-oriented, adequate action; adopting and communicating ethical practices during the intervention process; being able to cope with the degree of complexity, and finally being able to translate stakeholder diversity into collectively produced interventions (actions) towards sustainability. Moreover, this competence has to be practised in contexts of competing values, non-technical interests and power relations. The article concludes with recommendations for future research and practice

The spatial evolution of young massive clusters - II. Looking for imprints of star formation in NGC 2264 with Gaia DR2

Context. Better understanding of star formation in clusters with high-mass stars requires rigorous dynamical and spatial analyses of star-forming regions. Aims. We seek to demonstrate that “INDICATE” is a powerful spatial analysis tool which when combined with kinematic data from Gaia DR2 can be used to probe star formation history in a robust way. Methods. We compared the dynamic and spatial distributions of young stellar objects (YSOs) at various evolutionary stages in NGC 2264 using Gaia DR2 proper motion data and INDICATE. Results. The dynamic and spatial behaviours of YSOs at different evolutionary stages are distinct. Dynamically, Class II YSOs predominately have non-random trajectories that are consistent with known substructures, whereas Class III YSOs have random trajectories with no clear expansion or contraction patterns. Spatially, there is a correlation between the evolutionary stage and source concentration: 69.4% of Class 0/I, 27.9% of Class II, and 7.7% of Class III objects are found to be clustered. The proportion of YSOs clustered with objects of the same class also follows this trend. Class 0/I objects are both found to be more tightly clustered with the general populous/objects of the same class than Class IIs and IIIs by a factor of 1.2/4.1 and 1.9/6.6, respectively. An exception to these findings is within 0.05° of S Mon where Class III objects mimic the behaviours of Class II sources across the wider cluster region. Our results suggest (i) current YSOs distributions are a result of dynamical evolution, (ii) prolonged star formation has been occurring sequentially, and (iii) stellar feedback from S Mon is causing YSOs to appear as more evolved sources. Conclusions. Designed to provide a quantitative measure of clustering behaviours, INDICATE is a powerful tool with which to perform rigorous spatial analyses. Our findings are consistent with what is known about NGC 2264, effectively demonstrating that when combined with kinematic data from Gaia DR2 INDICATE can be used to study the star formation history of a cluster in a robust way

Compatibility of neutrino DIS data and global analyses of parton distribution functions

Neutrino\antineutrino deep inelastic scattering (DIS) data provide useful constrains for the flavor decomposition in global fits of parton distribution functions (PDF). The smallness of the cross-sections requires the use of nuclear targets in the experimental setup. Understanding the nuclear corrections is, for this reason, of utmost importance for a precise determination of the PDFs. Here, we explore the nuclear effects in the neutrino\antineutrino-nucleon DIS by comparing the NuTeV, CDHSW, and CHORUS cross-sections to the predictions derived from the latest parton distribution functions and their nuclear modifications. We obtain a good description of these data and find no apparent disagreement between the nuclear effects in neutrino DIS and those in charged lepton DIS. These results also indicate that further improvements in the knowledge of the nuclear PDFs could be obtained by a more extensive use of these sets of neutrino data.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Constraints for the nuclear parton distributions from Z and W production at the LHC

The LHC is foreseen to finally bring also the nuclear collisions to the TeV scale thereby providing new possibilities for physics studies, in particular related to the electro-weak sector of the Standard Model. We study here the Z and W production in proton-lead and lead-lead collisions at the LHC, concentrating on the prospects of testing the factorization and constraining the nuclear modifications of the parton distribution functions (PDFs). Especially, we find that the rapidity asymmetries in proton-nucleus collisions, arising from the differences in the PDFs between the colliding objects, provide a decisive advantage in comparison to the rapidity-symmetric nucleus-nucleus case. We comment on how such studies will help to improve our knowledge of the nuclear PDFs.Comment: The version accepted for publication in JHEP. New figures has been added, and we also discuss the single charged lepton productio

Pressure-dependent EPANET extension

In water distribution systems (WDSs), the available flow at a demand node is dependent on the pressure at that node. When a network is lacking in pressure, not all consumer demands will be met in full. In this context, the assumption that all demands are fully satisfied regardless of the pressure in the system becomes unreasonable and represents the main limitation of the conventional demand driven analysis (DDA) approach to WDS modelling. A realistic depiction of the network performance can only be attained by considering demands to be pressure dependent. This paper presents an extension of the renowned DDA based hydraulic simulator EPANET 2 to incorporate pressure-dependent demands. This extension is termed “EPANET-PDX” (pressure-dependent extension) herein. The utilization of a continuous nodal pressure-flow function coupled with a line search and backtracking procedure greatly enhance the algorithm’s convergence rate and robustness. Simulations of real life networks consisting of multiple sources, pipes, valves and pumps were successfully executed and results are presented herein. Excellent modelling performance was achieved for analysing both normal and pressure deficient conditions of the WDSs. Detailed computational efficiency results of EPANET-PDX with reference to EPANET 2 are included as well

Enzymatic degradation of starch thermoplastic blends using samples of different thickness

The material studied was a thermoplastic blend of corn starch with a poly(ethylene-vinyl alcohol) copolymer, SEVA-C. The influence of both the material’s exposed surface and enzyme concentration on degradation kinetics was studied. As α-amylase is present in the blood plasma, experiments were performed, varying the material thickness and the α-amylase between 50 and 100 units/l, at 37°C, lasting up to 90 days. Four different batches using SEVA-C and starch samples of different thickness were performed. The positive correlation between degradation rate and the exposed material surface was confirmed, since thin films with larger exposed surfaces were degraded faster than thick square plates having the same total mass. The degradation extent depends on the total amount of amorphous starch present in the formulation rather than on the amount of enzyme used and the minimum thickness to ensure maximum degradation was estimated to be close to 0.25 mm

Optimization of lipase production by solid-state fermentation of olive pomace: from flask to laboratory-scale packed-bed bioreactor

Lipases are versatile catalysts with many applications and can be produced by solid-state fermentation (SSF) using agro-industrial wastes. The aim of this work was to maximize the production of Aspergillus ibericus lipase under SSF of olive pomace (OP) and wheat bran (WB), evaluating the effect on lipase production of C/N ratio, lipids, phenols, content of sugars of substrates and nitrogen source addition. Moreover, the implementation of the SSF process in a packed-bed bioreactor and the improvement of lipase extraction conditions were assessed. Low C/N ratios and high content of lipids led to maximum lipase production. Optimum SSF conditions were achieved with a C/N mass ratio of 25.2 and 10.2% (w/w) lipids in substrate, by the mixture of OP:WB (1:1) and supplemented with 1.33% (w/w) (NH4)2SO4. Studies in a packed-bed bioreactor showed that the lower aeration rates tested prevented substrate dehydration, improving lipase production. In this work, the important role of Triton X-100 on lipase extraction from the fermented solid substrate has been shown. A final lipase activity of 223 ± 5 U g1 (dry basis) was obtained after 7 days of fermentation.Felisbela Oliveira acknowledges the financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) of Portugal through grant SFRH/BD/87953/2012. José Manuel Salgado was supported by grant CEB/N2020–INV/01/2016 from Project ‘‘BIOTECNORTE-Underpinning Biotechnology to foster the north of Portugal bioeconomy’’ (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004). Luı ´s Abrunhosa was supported by grant UMINHO/BPD/51/2015 from project UID/BIO/04469/2013 financed by FCT/MEC (OE). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020–Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Noelia Pérez-Rodríguez acknowledges the financial support of FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the financial support of this work (Project CTQ2015-71436-C2-1-R), which has partial financial support from the FEDER funds of the European Union.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cardiospondylocarpofacial syndrome as a distinct hereditary connective tissue disorder: novel missense variant in MAP3K7 in two unrelated patients

CDKL5 deficiency disorder is a rare X-linked condition that results in early onset of impairedmotor and cognitive skills such as motor rigidity, stereotypical hand movements and deficient language acquisition aswell as recurrent seizures. It is caused by mutations in the cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) gene, which encodes a serine/threonine kinase involved in important neuronal processes such as cell signaling and neuron morphogenesis.FCT: UID/Multi/04326/2019 (CCMAR)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio