Nutrient digestibility,performance and carcass traits of growing–finishing pigs fed diets containing graded levels of dehydrated lucerne meal

BACKGROUND: Plant breeders have attempted to improve the nutritonal value of lucerne (alfalfa) by selecting for higher protein and lower fibre concentrations. Although targeted at ruminants, such changes could also improve the nutritional value of lucerne for monogastrics. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of graded levels of dehydrated lucerne meal on nutrient digestibility, performance and carcass traits of swine. RESULTS: The digestibility of dry matter, protein and energy declined linearly (P < 0.05) as the level of lucerne meal in the diet increased. Including lucerne meal at levels greater than 75 g kg^?1 was detrimental to the growth rate of pigs during the growing period. During the finishing period, inclusion of lucerne meal at 75 and 150 g kg^?1 resulted in improvements in weight gain and feed intake. Carcass traits were generally unaffected by lucerne inclusion. CONCLUSION: Lucerne meal may have greater potential for inclusion in diets fed to growing–finishing pigs than previously realized. To maximize pig performance, lucerne meal should be limited to less than 75 g kg^?1 diet during the growing period, while it is possible to go as high as 150 g kg^?1 diet during the finishing period without detrimental effects on performance. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Exploring Regional Profile of Drought History- a New Procedure to Characterize and Evaluate Multi-Scaler Drought Indices Under Spatial Poisson Log-Normal Model

Water Resources Management - Drought is recurrently occurring in many parts of the globe. In contrast to other natural hazards, drought has complex climatic characteristics. Several environmental...     

Intelligent Transmission Control for Efficient Operations in SDN

Although the Software-Defined Network (SDN) is a well-controlled and efficient network but the complexity of open flow switches in SDN causes multiple issues. Many solutions have been proposed so far for the prevention of errors and mistakes in it but yet, there is still no smooth transmission of pockets from source to destination specifically when irregular movements follow the destination host in SDN, the errors include packet loss, data compromise etc. The accuracy of packets received at their desired destination is possible if networks for pockets and hosts are monitored instead of analysis of network snapshot statistically for the state, as these approaches with open flow switches, discover bugs after their occurrence. This article proposes a design to achieve the said objective by defining the Intelligent Transmission Control Layer (ITCL) layer. It monitors all the connections of end hosts at their specific locations and performs necessary settlements when the connection state changes for one or multiple hosts. The layer informs the controller regarding any state change at one period and controller collects information of end nodes reported via ITCL. Then, updates flow tables accordingly to accommodate a location-change scenario with a route-change policy. ICTL is organized on prototype-based implementation using the popular POX platform. In this paper, it has been discovered that ITCL produces efficient performance in the trafficking of packets and controlling different states of SDN for errors and packet loss.     

Using artificial intelligence techniques for COVID-19 genome analysis

Applied Intelligence - The genome of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease was first sequenced in January 2020, approximately a month after its emergence in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province,...     

Piezoelectricity of the Transmembrane Protein ba3 Cytochrome c Oxidase

Controlling the electromechanical response of piezoelectric biological structures including tissues, peptides, and amino acids provides new applications for biocompatible, sustainable materials in electronics and medicine. Here, the piezoelectric effect is revealed in another class of biological materials, with robust longitudinal and shear piezoelectricity measured in single crystals of the transmembrane protein ba₃ cytochrome c oxidase from Thermus thermophilus. The experimental findings from piezoresponse force microscopy are substantiated using a range of control measurements and molecular models. The observed longitudinal and shear piezoelectric responses of ≈ 2 and 8 pm V⁻¹, respectively, are comparable to or exceed the performance of commonly used inorganic piezoelectric materials including quartz, aluminum nitride, and zinc oxide. This suggests that transmembrane proteins may provide, in addition to physiological energy transduction, technologically useful piezoelectric material derived entirely from nature. Membrane proteins could extend the range of rationally designed biopiezoelectric materials far beyond the minimalistic peptide motifs currently used in miniaturized energy harvesters, and the finding of robust piezoelectric response in a transmembrane protein also raises fundamental questions regarding the molecular evolution, activation, and role of regulatory proteins in the cellular nanomachinery, indicating that piezoelectricity might be important for fundamental physiological processes.     

Egg white proteins and β-cyclodextrin: effective cryoprotectant mixture against oxidative changes in the myofibrillar proteins of Culter alburnus

The effect of egg white protein (EWP) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) mixture was analysed on the myofibrillar proteins (MP) of Culter alburnus during a frozen storage at −18 °C for 60 days. Different proportions of EWP:β-CD mixture (0%, 2%, 4% and 6%) were added into MP to analyse their effect against oxidative changes. During the study, sulphydryl contents and Ca-ATPase activity (0.297 to 0.136 mmol g⁻¹) decreased. Moreover, protein denaturation also prompted the surface hydrophobicity (11.47 to 32.06 μg) and carbonyls (26.36 to 49 mg.28 nmol mg⁻¹) of control MP. A significant decline was observed in emulsifying properties. Besides, EWP:β-CD showed remarkable stability against oxidative changes, by significantly reducing the carbonyls (26.26 to 37.69 nmol mg⁻¹) and surface hydrophobicity (11.51 to 20.31 μg) and also the decline of Ca-ATPase activity (0.29 to 0.19 mmol g⁻¹). It can be concluded that EWP:β-CD (6%) is an efficient approach against oxidative changes in MP from Culter alburnus.     

Design and development of a simple and highly sensitive anthocyanin-based sensing device for colorimetric urea determination

We introduce a rapid anthocyanin-based paper sensor with very high sensitivity and optical visibility for colorimetric detection of urea. The working principle is based on a colour change from purple to blue upon sensor exposure to ammonia generated from urea hydrolysis in the presence of urease as a catalyst. To improve sensor sensitivity and optical visibility, anthocyanin storage, urease solvent, urea hydrolysis time, and temperature were investigated. The results indicated that the anthocyanin extracted from red cabbage and stored in dark and low-temperature conditions, urease extracted into water₅₅ + glycerol₄₅ (Aq₅₅ + G₄₅), and urea hydrolysis time of 40 min and temperature of 45°C offer the best detection condition. The fabricated sensor showed exceptional sensitivity of 0.018 pixel/mg urea-N/L with a very low limit of detection (2.01 mg urea-N/L) and a limit of quantification (6.71 mg urea-N/L). Moreover, the sensor reaction zone is optically visible for urea concentration as low as 5 mg urea-N/L, making it a promising tool for urea screening in diverse applications. The unique analytical features and accuracy of the sensor compared to the spectrophotometry method also suggest that it can be used as a replacement for environmentally unfriendly spectrophotometry methods for on-site urea determination.     

Engineered Cobalt Single-Atoms@BiFeO3 Heteronanostructures for Highly Efficient Solar Water Oxidation

Efficient charge–carrier separation and their utilization are the key factors in overcoming sluggish four-electron reaction kinetics involved in photocatalytic oxygen evolution. Here, a novel study demonstrates the significance of Na₂S₂O₈ as a sacrificial agent in comparison to AgNO₃. Resultantly, BiFeO₃ (BFO) and titanium doped-oxygen deficient BiFeO₃ (Ti-BFO-R) nanostructures achieve ≈64 and 44.5 times higher O₂ evolution in the presence of Na₂S₂O₈ compared to AgNO₃ as a sacrificial agent, respectively. Furthermore, the presence of Co single atoms (Co-SAs) deposited via immersion method on BFO and Ti-BFO-R nanostructures led to achieving outstanding O₂ evolution at a rate of 16.11 and 23.89 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively, which is 153 and 227.5 times higher compared to BFO (in the presence of AgNO₃), the highest O₂ evolution observed for BFO-based materials to date. The successful deposition of Co-SAs is confirmed by aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC HAADF-STEM) and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). The charge transfer investigations confirm the significance of Co-SAs on BFO-based photocatalysts for improved charge–carrier separation, transport, and utilization. This novel study validates the excellent role of Na₂S₂O₈ as a sacrificial agent and Co-SAs as a cocatalyst for BFO-based nanostructures for efficient O₂ evolution.     

Reliability Enhancement in Nondestructive Evaluation: Development of Practical Rules for Vacuum Type Helium Leak Tests

In helium leak testing, reliability is an important factor and while attempting to improve this, lot of challenges are being faced. There are contributors for bringing in variations in leak meter readings obtained during system sensitivity check and actual leak test which ultimately affect the final measured leakage rate of test object and they need to be controlled for obtaining reliable results. Response times of leaks are affected by vacuum side volumes, contaminations in vacuum side, leaked gas travel path restrictions on vacuum side and nature of actual leak paths and their gas flow impedances. Hence, actual consideration of real responses of leaks is to be practiced for a reliable test. The traditional concept of using estimate for percentage helium concentration in test hoods is modified by a novel method for its exact determination which improves reliability in tests. Also, practical rules are derived for the reliable identification of leak locations from response time concept. Spurious indications caused by leaks in temporary test rig joints or due to leaks from joints or passages not in the scope of test are other impediments for a reliable test. The response of system changes instantly by spurious indications and hence they require elimination by adopting innovative methods.