Productive performance of laying hens fed wheat-based diets included olive pulp with or without a commercial enzyme product

Olive pulp (OP) is the remainder of olive cake (the raw material resulting from extraction of olive oil) after the removal of the seed fractions. It can be achieved by sieving the dry olive cake to separate most of the seeds. To assess effects of dietary inclusion of OP supplementing with a cocktail commercial enzyme on performance of laying hens and egg quality characteristics, one hundred and twenty 80- week-old Lohmann LSL-Lite hens, with an average laying rate of 80.3 ± 3.8% (late production phase) and 1450 ± 14 g live body weight, were divided in 20 cages (n = 6). Hens in 5 cages (replicates) were randomly assigned to feed on one of the 4 experimental diets. Based on a 2×2 factorial arrangement, 4 iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous diets (ME =2720 kcal/kg and CP=150 g/kg) including OP (0.0 and 90.0 g/kg) and a commercial cocktail enzyme with mostly xylanase activity (Nutrase®, 0.0 or 0.9 g/kg) were formulated. To determine blood biochemical parameters and differentiable count of white blood cells, one hen per replicate was bled via wing vein on day 35 of trial. To determine egg quality parameters, all eggs during three frequent days were collected on week 4 of trial. Collected data of feed intake (FI), egg production (EP), egg mass (EM) and calculated feed conversion ratio (FCR), blood biochemical parameters and egg quality traits during 6 week trial period was analyzed based on completely randomized design. Hens fed the OP-included diet shown decreased EP compared with hens fed the control diet during week 3 of experimental period (p ≤ 0.05). There was no significant difference between hens fed the OP-included diet and the control diet in terms of FI and EM. In addition, the same trend was observed in terms of enzyme effect on FI and EM. Dietary enzyme supplementation improved FCR compared with hens fed the control diet during week 6 of the experimental period (p ≤ 0.05). Including OP in the diets of hens decreased the blood level of triglycerides (p ≤ 0.05). Including OP in the diets of hens increased the yolk index (p ≤ 0.05). From the results of this investigation, it can be concluded that including OP in diets of laying hens up to 9% would not have deleterious effects on bird's productive performance. In addition, dietary supplementation with a cocktail enzyme with mainly xylanase activity improved FCR in hens.Key words: Olive pulp, enzyme, laying hens, performance, egg quality characteristics, blood parameters

Mechanical properties of precast reinforced concrete slab tracks on non-ballasted foundations

AbstractThis article deals with the mechanical properties of steel-reinforced concrete precast slab tracks on non-ballasted elasto-plastic foundations. To work out the spanning behavior of slab tracks, a FEM analysis was executed for discrete and continuous systems. At first, full-size slabs without foundation including solid and hollow-core specimens (with 30% weight reduction) were tested under centric static (monotonic) line loads, and load–deflection curves were extracted. Then, FEM results for zero foundation stiffness were verified with those of experiments, which were in good agreement. Original results include the effects of several parameters on the cracking load, ultimate load, and energy absorption of slabs placed on elasto-plastic foundations including the slab width, concrete tensile strength and load factor. Analyses revealed that mechanical properties in hollow-core sections are not so different from those in solid ones, and thus hollow-core sections are more efficient because of significant weight reduction

Trends of the Citizens of Mafraq Governorate towards the Causes of Economic Poverty

This study aimed to identify the attitudes of the citizens of Mafraq Governorate towards the economic causes of poverty. The study sample consisted of 408 participants representing (0.14%) of the population of the study, were selected  randomly  .  To achieve the goal of the study, a questionnaire consisted of 56 items is used.  Data were collected and analyzed using (SPSS). The study relied on the analytic and descriptive approach. Results showed the attitudes of Mafraq Governorate’s citizens towards the economic causes of poverty were high with a mean ( 4.02 – 5.00) in terms of "high prices compared to the family income", "low level of income", "lack of job opportunities because  of favoritism and nepotism", " high prices in the market"," the disparity and inequality in fortune distribution and production resources" and "the stumbling of economic development programs". In light of study’s results , the researcher provides  a number of scientific and practical recommendations. The study aimed to identify the trends of the citizens of Mafraq Governorate about the causes of economic poverty, may be members of the population of the study (408) of the study population and representing a rate of (0.14%) of the nearly study population, were chosen in a manner random sample relative, but the purpose of the study was the use of a questionnaire Head of the referendum as a psychometric tool, and trends of the questionnaire (56), paragraph, and after data collection and discharged processed using the statistical program for Social Sciences (SPSS), and used the descriptive analysis and deductive methods in order to determine the extent of substantial differences. Study the following results showed: that the citizens of trends Mafraq Governorate about the causes of economic poverty (high) reaching the arithmetic average of the respondents (4.02: 5.00) in terms of "high prices compared to the family income," "low level of income," "lack of job opportunities because favoritism and nepotism "," high prices in the market "," the disparity and inequality in wealth distribution and production resources, "and" economic development programs stumble, "in light of the results of this study have been drafting a number of scientific and practical recommendations

The Relationship between Government Programs and Unemployment Rates in Jordan (2004-2014)

This study is aimed to show the relationship between governmental programs and unemployment rates in Jordan for the period (2004 – 2014). The study relied on descriptive methodology to show the relationship between the study variables represented by unemployment rate and the governmental programs that have been implemented during the study period, namely: (economic and social development plan and the employment and the vocational & technical training support, which are a part of the Executive Development Program).The study showed a relationship between the governmental programs, which have been implemented, and the unemployment rates, since unemployment rates declined as a result of the implementation of these programs during the study period.The study concluded the number of recommendations including: Establishing development projects to stimulate economic growth, orientation of local and foreign investments towards direct treatment  to reduce the unemployment rate by providing actual job opportunities, adjustment and regulation of  labor market and seeking the substitution of national workers instead of foreign workers gradually, adjustment of the employment process in the qualified industrial zones, unify efforts and increase coordination between the concerned parties and bodies to solve the unemployment problem and helping the groups more affected by the issue of unemployment and to focus on a young group of (17-24) years old by orienting them towards professional and vocational work

The Econometrics Effect of Information Technology Investment on Financial Performance in the Jordanian Banking Sector over the Period 1993-2014

This study measures theRelationship between IT investment and Financial performance in the JordanianBanking Sector over the Period 1993-2014. The profitability equation isestimated by panel least squares, and the effect of IT investment on bankprofitability and compared with different bank groups, such as large- andsmall-asset banks, and high- and low-IT use. The empirical analysis of thisstudy reveals that the IT ratio and EAR and INF have relatively strongexplanatory powers for bank profitability. The results indicate that for largebanks the estimates of the IT ratio are positive for ROA and ROE butsignificant for ROA only, while those of small banks are positive andsignificant for ROA and ROE. This implies that the ITI of small banks has astronger positive effect on bank returns than that of large banks. We can saythat the effect on ROA for large banks is less than smaller banks because ofdiminishing returns to scale. Moreover the results report that high- and low-ITbanks show significant positive coefficient estimates on ROE, while low bankshave significant positive coefficient estimates on ROA. Generally, the high-ITbanks’ coefficient estimates on ROE are larger. This is because the economicsof scale of high-IT banks with a high level of ITI as a factor input, leadingto a higher effect on profitability increase.Jordanian banks need to take carewith their adoption of information technology because of its impact on the profitabilityof banksKeywords:Information Technology Investment, Financial Performance, Banking Sector

Economic Determinants of Capital Flight in Jordan: An Empirical Study

The aim of this study is to estimate the constraints of Capital Flight during the period from 2000 to 2013. The statistical analysis showed a positive statistical significant relationship between the external public debt, taxes, economic openness, previous capital flight, and Capital flight in Jordan. However, it also showed a negative statistical significant relationship between the growth rate of the economy and capital flight. This was together with the most important recommendations of the need to monitor the flight of capital through creating a Department in the central bank to control money flight. Therefore, this was aimed in reducing the external public debts that increase the phenomenon of Capital flight and cooperate with international institutions and the United Nations to locate the place of money flight

Effects of adding mixed powder of garlic and thyme to diets included graded levels of rice bran on productive performance of laying hens and egg quality characteristics

Code: 6715685418. Mohebbifar, A. and M. Torki; Effects of adding mixed powder of garlic and thyme to diets included graded levels of rice bran on productive performance of laying hens and egg quality characteristics ABSTRACT To investigate the effects of adding dried powder of medicinal plants (MP) including garlic (Allium sativum) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) to rice bran-included diets on performance of laying hens, egg quality traits and blood differential count of white blood cells, 144 Lohmann LSL-Lite hens after production peak were randomly divided in 24 cages (n=6). Six iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous experimental diets (ME = 2720 Kcal/ Kg and CP=154.2 g/Kg) including three levels (0, 100 and 200 g/kg) of rice bran (RB) with MP (0 and 2.5 g/kg) were fed hens with 4 replicates per diet during 8-week trial period. In weeks 4 and 8, all produced eggs per each dietary group during three frequent days were collected to measure egg quality traits. To determine blood biochemical parameters and differential count of white blood cells, one randomly selected hen per replicate was bled via wing vein on day 35 of trial. Collected data of feed intake (FI), egg production (EP), egg mass (EM); calculated feed conversion ratio (FCR), egg quality traits and blood parameters in a 3×2 factorial arrangement was analyzed based on completely randomized design using GLM procedure of SAS. Dietary treatment did not have significant effect on EP, EM, FI and FCR of laying hens (P>0.05). Egg weight, egg index, Haugh unit, egg gravity and egg shell weight were not significantly affected by dietary treatment (P>0.05). Yolk color in the first measurement (wk 4) was higher in the control compared to the RB-included dietary group (P=0.02); but, in second egg sampling (wk 8) yolk color was higher in the 200 g RB-included dietary group (P= 0.01) compared the other dietary groups. In second measurement (wk 8) egg shell thickness was higher in the control compared to RB-included dietary groups (P=0.03). Dietary treatment did not have significant effect on feces pH (P> 0.05). From the results of the present study it can be concluded that RB can be included in diets of laying hens up to 20% with no adverse effect on productive performance. In terms of egg quality characteristics, egg shell quality might be improperly affected by dietary RB inclusion. Adding ground mixture of dried garlic and thyme did not have beneficial effects on hens' performance and egg quality

Permanently going back and forth between the “quadratic world” and the “convexity world” in optimization

The objective of this work is twofold. Firstly, we propose a review of different results concerning convexity of images by quadratic mappings, putting them in a chronological perspective. Next, we enlighten these results from a geometrical point of view in order to provide new and comprehensive proofs and to immerse them in a more general and abstract context

Essential self-adjointness for combinatorial Schr\"odinger operators II- Metrically non complete graphs

We consider weighted graphs, we equip them with a metric structure given by a weighted distance, and we discuss essential self-adjointness for weighted graph Laplacians and Schr\"odinger operators in the metrically non complete case.Comment: Revisited version: Ognjen Milatovic wrote to us that he had discovered a gap in the proof of theorem 4.2 of our paper. As a consequence we propose to make an additional assumption (regularity property of the graph) to this theorem. A new subsection (4.1) is devoted to the study of this property and some details have been changed in the proof of theorem 4.