Effect of nutritional immunomodulation and heat stress during the dry period on subsequent performance of cows

Heat stress in dairy cows during the dry period impairs milk yield in the next lactation. Feeding OmniGen-AF (OG; Phibro Animal Health Corp., Teaneck, NJ) to lactating cows during heat stress may increase dry matter intake (DMI) and lowers respiration rate (RR) and rectal temperature (RT), but the effects in dry cows are not known. We hypothesized that OG supplementation before, during, and after the dry period (approximately 160 d total) would overcome the effects of heat stress and improve cow performance in the next lactation. Cows were randomly assigned to OG or control (placebo) treatments for the last 60 d in milk (DIM), based on mature-equivalent milk yield in the previous lactation. Cows were dried off 45 d before expected calving and randomly assigned to heat stress (HT) or cooling (CL) treatments. Thus, cows received dietary supplementation during late lactation before they were exposed to either CL or HT. After dry-off, treatment groups included heat stress with placebo (HT, only shade, 56 g/d of placebo, n = 17), HT with OG supplementation (HTOG, 56 g/d of OG, n = 19), cooling with placebo (CL, shade, fans, and soakers, 56 g/d of placebo, n = 16), and CL with OG supplementation (CLOG, 56 g/d of OG, n = 11). After parturition, all cows were kept under the same CL system and management, and all cows continued to receive OG or control treatment until 60 DIM. Cooling cows during the dry period reduced afternoon RT (CL vs. HT; 38.9 ± 0.05 vs. 39.3 ± 0.05°C) and RR (CL vs. HT; 45 ± 1.6 vs. 77 ± 1.6 breaths/min). Respiration rate was also decreased by OG supplementation under HT conditions (HTOG vs. HT; 69.7 ± 1.6 vs. 77.2 ± 1.6 breaths/min). An interaction was observed between OG supplementation and HT; HTOG cows tended to have lower morning RT compared with HT cows. During the dry period, OG reduced DMI relative to control cows. Birth weight was greater in calves from CL cows (CL vs. HT; 40.6 ± 1.09 vs. 38.7 ± 1.09 kg). No differences were detected among treatments in hematocrit, total protein, and body condition score. Cows offered CLOG, CL, and HTOG treatments had greater body weight during the dry period (794.9 ± 17.9, 746.8 ± 16.7, and 762.9 ± 14.9 kg, respectively) than HT cows (720 ± 16.2 kg). Gestation length was approximately 4 d longer for CL cows compared with HT cows. Cows offered CLOG, CL, and HTOG treatments produced more milk (41.3 ± 1.6, 40.7 ± 1.6, and 40.5 ± 1.6 kg/d, respectively) than HT treatment (35.9 ± 1.6 kg/d). Body weight after parturition and DMI were evaluated up to 60 DIM and averaged 661.5 ± 15.8 and 19.4 ± 0.7 kg/d, respectively, with no differences observed among treatments. These results confirm that exposure of dry cows to heat stress negatively affects milk yield in the subsequent lactation. Active cooling of dry cows and OG supplementation can reduce the negative effects of heat stress in the dry period on subsequent performance.     

Assessing the activity of a large landslide in southern Italy by ground-monitoring and SAR interferometric techniques

Landslides are recognized as one of the most damaging natural hazards in Italy. Campania region represents a complex geological setting, where mass movements of different types are widespread, and urban expansion can be increasingly seen by the presence of buildings and infrastructure in landslide-prone areas. In such a context, monitoring of unstable slopes represents a key activity in the process of landslide risk prevention and mitigation, in order to correctly establish a cause–effect correlation and to predict the possible reactivation phases that may result in high costs for the human society. This article focuses on the application of different methods of landslide analysis and monitoring, including those developed more recently and based on data acquired by satellites and processed by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometric techniques. The study area is a small town, Calitri, known worldwide for the large landslide reactivated by the 23 November 1980 earthquake that destroyed a large sector of the historical centre. The site has been investigated by two ground-monitoring campaigns, the analysis of which allowed identification of the evolution of landslide activity over time. Furthermore, differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR), based upon two different approaches, allowed us to produce point-wise and wide area deformation maps after processing data sets of Earth Resource Satellite 1/2 (ERS-1/2) images, respectively acquired in 1992–2001 and 1992–1995. The results obtained from this analysis highlighted the potentiality of remote-sensing tools in landslide hazard assessment and led to development of a research project based on the installation of corner reflectors along unstable slopes and aimed at creating a field–Earth observation monitoring system.     

Micro-optofluidic switch realized by 3D printing technology

This paper presents a PDMS micro-optofluidic chip that allows a laser beam to be driven directly toward a two-phase flow stream in a micro-channel while at the same time automatically, detecting the slug’s passage and stirring the laser light, without the use of any external optical devices. When the laser beam interacts with the microfluidic flow, depending on the fluid in the channel and the laser angle of incidence, a different signal level is detected. So a continuous air–water segmented flow will generate a signal that switches between two values. The device consists of a T-junction, which generates the two-phase flow, and three optical fiber insertions, which drive the input laser beam toward a selected area of the micro-channel and detects the flow stream. Three micro-channel sections of different widths were considered: 130, 250, 420 μm and the performance of the models was obtained by comparing ray-tracing simulations. The master of the device has been realized by 3D printing technology and a protocol which realizes the PDMS chip is presented. The static and dynamic characterizations, considering both single flows and two-phase flows, were carried out, and in spite of the device’s design simplicity, the sensitivity of the system to capture changes in the segmented flows and to stir the laser light in different directions was fully confirmed. The experimental tests show the possibility of obtaining satisfactory results with channel diameters in the order of 200 μm.     

Antimicrobial and electrical properties of ce- and ni-doped zns nanoparticles obtained by a sonochemical method

In this work, cerium- and nickel-codoped ZnS nanoparticles were obtained by a sonochemical method for 20 min. The nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and microscopy electronic transmission (MET). The electrical properties are estimated through I-V curves and the antimicrobial activity was analyzed against E. coli (gram-negative) and S. aureus (gram-positive) bacteria using the diffusion disk methodology. The diffractograms indicate the obtaining of cubic structure ZnS for the pure sample, whereas the doped samples present the cubic and hexagonal structures of the ZnS. The bandgap reduced from 3.60 to 3.52 eV, for pure and codoped samples. I-V curves indicate an increase in resistivity with doping, being more evident for samples containing cerium. Antimicrobial activity increased as doping occurred, where the codoped sample showed the best results. Even for the low amount of dopant (1 mol%), the antimicrobial activity can be increased by about 50% for the codoped sample, compared to the pure ZnS. Thus, it is known that the doping of ZnS with cerium and nickel provides the stabilization of the hexagonal metastable phase, which acts to restrict electronic mobility and, consequently, improves the antimicrobial response of the material.     

Grape juice by-products extracted by ultrasound and microwave-assisted with different solvents: a rich chemical composition

Food Science and Biotechnology - By-products of the grape juice industry contain valuable compounds. The current work produced bioactive-enriched extracts from by-products of the grape juice,...     

Hybrid simulation modelling as a supporting tool for sustainable product service systems: a critical analysis

Manufacturing companies are increasingly shifting their value proposition from a product-centric perspective to Product-Service-System (PSS). This evolution allows companies to improve the customisation of their offer and to contribute to reduce material flows and consumption, thus enhancing sustainability. However, when companies introduce PSS offers, they have to face higher complexity and dynamism, as customer behaviours, process requirements and sustainability assessment must be considered during the design and the development of the new solutions. In this paper, after the identification of the main PSS dynamic features, the authors argue that business process simulation (BPS) could represent an effective tool to cope with the dynamics and the complexity entailed in a sustainable PSS. This paper analyses and compares existing BPS approaches identifying the hybrid simulation (HS) modelling as a promising approach. In fact, according to the critical PSS features, HS allows grasping PSS features and integrating customer, company and environmental sustainability perspectives into the model, thus, supporting effective PSS design and assessment. These findings have been validated in a test case where a hybrid model (integrating Discrete Event Simulation with Agent-Based Modelling) has been compared against a pure DES model. The results highlight the advantages of the hybrid modelling approach with respect to DES in supporting the engineering of a sustainable, customer-oriented PSS provision process.     

Microbial contamination of main contact surfaces of Automated Teller Machines from Metropolitan Area of Porto

ABSTRACT

Automated Teller Machines (ATM) are likely to be contaminated with various microorganisms because of their contact with the hands of many users daily. The main objective of this study was to investigate ATMs as a potential source of bacterial contamination. This study was conducted in the Metropolitan Area of Porto, in which 50 swab samples were cultured on selective media. Some isolates were identified based on colonial, morphological and biochemical characteristics. Susceptibility to several antibiotics was also evaluated for each isolated organism. Most contaminated ATMs had high numbers of Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococci. Staphylococci and Enterobacteriaceae were the most prevalent bacteria found. The recovered bacterial isolates varied in their antibiotic resistance pattern; Staphylococcus spp. demonstrated the most resistant profiles. With this pioneering study in Portugal, it was demonstrated that although ATMs in metropolitan area of Porto were not highly contaminated, some potentially pathogenic bacteria were present and resistant to some commonly used antibiotics.     

Flexible composite via rapid titania coating by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis

The aim of this work was to prepare a flexible nanocomposite from ultra-fine titanium oxide (\(\hbox {TiO}_{2}\)) growth on carbon fibre via microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis (MHS) and to evaluate its photocatalytic properties. The \(\hbox {TiO}_{2}\) nanoparticles were directly grown on the carbon fibre (CF). Thus, a study comparing the conventional titania coating vs. the MHS were performed. The significant layer interaction as a function of the coating method on the visible and dark dye photodegradation performance was observed. Techniques such as X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy (field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM)), Raman spectroscopy, among others were used aiming to characterize the different route samples. This study reports a reproducible and single method to manufacture of nanocomposites through the growth of \(\hbox {TiO}_{2}\) nanoparticle on CF by MHS that allow controlling the thickness layer. Similar procedure of synthesized nanocomposite could be applied in different chemical compositions to advanced applications, based on the electrochemical nanostructure.