Dietary Oil Type and Late Feed Restriction Elicit Synergistic Effects on Growth,Caeca Bacteria,Carcass, Fat Accretion,and Muscle Lipids in Female Broilers

The influence of dietary oil type (OT) and late feed restriction (FR) on growth, caeca bacteria count, carcass, separable fat depots, serum and muscle lipids, and meat quality in broilers is examined. In total, 224, 21-day-old female Arbor acres broilers are randomly allotted to either PN, Unrestricted+50 g kg⁻¹ palm oil (PO); PR, 25%-FR+PO; SN, Unrestricted+50 g kg⁻¹ soybean oil (SO); or SR, 25%-FR+SO for 21 d. The SN and PR birds have the heaviest and lightest body weight gain (BWG), respectively. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) is poorer in the PN birds. Feed-restricted birds have more caeca Lactobacillus and lower Salmonella, serum cholesterol, and triglycerides. Carcass yield is higher in SR birds and lower in PN birds. The FR-OT interaction is significant for muscle lipids and weight of fat depots. The PN birds deposit more abdominal, intramuscular, sartorial, mesentery and neck fats, muscle saturated fatty acids, and C18:1n-9 and lower C18:3n-3 and C20:5n-3 than other birds. Neither OT nor FR affects the pH, color, water holding capacity, and oxidative stability of breast meat. The changes elicited by 25%-FR on BWG, FCR, carcass yield, depot fats, and muscle lipids in female broilers are dependent on dietary OT. Practical Application: Fast growth rate and unrestricted access to feed can predispose broiler chickens to excessive fat accretion, which is counterproductive. Producing high-quality carcasses that meet consumers’ expectation is crucial for sustainable and efficient broiler production. The possible interaction between dietary OT and late quantitative FR in mitigating excessive fat accretion and altering production indices in female broilers is explored. Late quantitative FR reduces BWG, FCR, serum lipids, caeca pH and Salmonella spp. and fat accretion in fat depots, and enhances carcass yield and caeca Lactobacillus spp. However, the impacts are more pronounced in the PO birds than the SO birds. Late FR improves the C18:3n-3 and C18:2n-6 contents in PO meat while reducing the C14:0 and C16:0 contents in SO meat. These findings explicate that dietary OT and late quantitative FR can be synergistically used to mitigate excessive fat accretion and alter growth, caeca microflora, and muscle lipids in broilers.     

Polypropylene Hybrid Composites: A Preliminary Study on the use of Glass and Coconut Fiber as Reinforcements in Polypropylene Composites

Polypropylene hybrid composites were made using coconut and glass fibers as reinforcing agents in the polypropylene matrix. The incorporation of both fibers into the PP matrix has resulted in the reduction of flex-ural, tensile, and impact strengths and elongation at break. The reduction has been attributed to the increased incompatibility between the fibers and the PP matrix, and the irregularity in fiber size, especially for biofibers as shown by scanning electron micrographs. Both the flexural and tensile moduli have been improved with the increasing level of fiber loading. Most of the properties tested for Composites with high glass fibers/low biofiber loading are comparable with the ones with low glass fiber/high biofiber loading. The results show that more biofibers could be incorporated in hybrid composites which would give the same range of properties as the composites with higher loading of glass fibers.     

PETROLEUM PROSPECTIVITY OF CRETACEOUS FORMATIONS IN THE GONGOLA BASIN,UPPER BENUE TROUGH,NIGERIA: AN ORGANIC GEOCHEMICAL PERSPECTIVE ON A MIGRATED OIL CONTROVERSY

Organic geochemical studies of Cretaceous formations in the Gongola Basin, northern Nigeria, show TOC values that are generally higher than the minimum (0.5 wt %) required for hydrocarbon generation. Data from Rock‐Eval pyrolysis and biomarker studies indicate the presence of both terrestrial and marine derived Types II and III organic matter, which is immature in the Gombe Formation and of marginal maturity in the Yolde Formation. Immature Type III to IV OM is present in the Pindiga Formation; and Type III OM, with a maturity that corresponds to the conventional onset (or perhaps peak) of oil generation occurs in the Bima Formation. However, Bima Formation samples from the 4710 – 4770 ft (1435.6 – 1453.9 m) depth interval within well Nasara‐1 indicate Type I OM of perhaps lacustrine origin (H31R/H30 ratio generally ≤0.25). Although the Nasara‐1 well was reported to be dry, geochemical parameters (high TOCs, S₁, S₂ and Hls, low Tmax compared to adjacent samples, a bimodal S₂ peak on the Rock‐Eval pyrogram, a dominance of fluorinite macerals), together with generally low H3IR/H30 biomarker ratios within the 4710–4770 ft (1435.6–1453.9 m) interval, suggest the presence of migrated oil, perhaps sourced by lacustrine shales in the Albian Bima Formation located at as‐yet unpenetrated depths. The presence of the migrated oil in the Bima Formation and its possible lacustrine origin suggest that the petroleum system in the Gongola Basin is similar to that of the Termit, Doba and Doseo Basins of the Chad Republic, where economic oil reserves have been encountered.     

UV radiation curing of surface coatings based on ENR-cycloaliphatic diepoxide-glycidyl methacrylate system by cationic photoinitiators-optimization of process variables through response surface methodology

This paper reports on the results of the ultraviolet curing of surface coatings based on cycloaliphatic diepoxide-epoxidized natural rubber (ENR)-glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) system with a cationic photoinitiator. The results reported in our earlier publication¹ showed that ENR acts as a toughening agent for the otherwise brittle epoxy resin, and that GMA functions as a crosslinking agent in the system and promotes adhesion between the elastomeric domain and the resin matrix. In this paper, the results of the effect of operating variables on the properties of the cured film are reported. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to collect data and to establish the functional relationships between operating variables and performance characteristics of the cured coatings. The data are represented in three-dimensional response surface plots. These plots not only enable the interpretation of results, but also allow the determination of the optimum treatment combinations required to maximize the properties of the surface coatings. Wood Paper and Coatings Div., School of Industrial Technology, 11800 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.     

Pectin graft copolymer-montmorillonite composite: Synthesis,swelling and divalent metal ion adsorption

A novel graft copolymer gel made up of pectin (Pec), 2-(methacryloyloxyethyl)trimethylammonium chloride (METAC), 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) and its composite with montmorillonite (MMT) were prepared using methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as cross-linker via microwave irradiation and characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Swelling studies were carried out under different pH conditions. The graft copolymer gel and its composite showed maximum swelling in neural medium (pH 7.1) and the swelling process followed second order kinetics. The mechanism of water transport is found to be a Less Fickian diffusion process. The adsorption capacities of the graft copolymer gel and the composite towards divalent metal ions (Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Hg²⁺) were evaluated. The adsorption capacity of the representative samples, Pec-g-poly(METAC-co-AMPS)-A5 and Pec-g-poly(METAC-co-AMPS)/MMT-C2 respectively for Cu²⁺ are 30.71 and 39.18 mg/g; for Pb²⁺ are 58.06 and 79.78 mg/g and for Hg²⁺ are 12.16 and 19.58 mg/g. The re-usability of the materials was also evaluated. The % recovery for the above two systems towards metals ion are 87.91 and 63.46 for Cu²⁺, 32.13 and 58.30 for Pb²⁺ and 78.53 and 51.92 for Hg^2+. respectively. The adsorption isotherm studies indicated the adsorption of Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Hg²⁺ in both samples is explained best by the Freundlich model except of Hg²⁺ by Pec-g-poly(METAC-co-AMPS)-A5, which is best explained by the Langmuir model.     

Life cycle assessment and environmental profile evaluation of lead-free piezoelectrics in comparison with lead zirconate titanate

The prohibition of lead in many electronic components and devices due to its toxicity has reinvigorated the race to develop substitutes for lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based mainly on the potassium sodium niobate (KNN) and sodium bismuth titanate (NBT). However, before successful transition from laboratory to market, critical environmental assessment of all aspects of their fabrication and development must be carried out in comparison with PZT. Given the recent findings that KNN is not intrinsically ‘greener’ than PZT, there is a tendency to see NBT as the solution to achieving environmentally lead-free piezoelectrics competitive with PZT. The lower energy consumed by NBT during synthesis results in a lower overall environmental profile compared to both PZT and KNN. However, bismuth and its oxide are mainly the by-product of lead smelting and comparison between NBT and PZT indicates that the environmental profile of bismuth oxide surpasses that of lead oxide across several key indicators, especially climate change, due to additional processing and refining steps which pose extra challenges in metallurgical recovery. Furthermore, bismuth compares unfavourably with lead due to its higher energy cost of recycling. The fact that roughly 90–95% of bismuth is derived as a by-product of lead smelting also constitutes a major concern for future upscaling. As such, NBT and KNN do not offer absolute competitive edge from an environmental perspective in comparison to PZT. The findings in this work have global practical implications for future Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation for piezoelectric materials and demonstrate the need for a holistic approach to the development of sustainable functional materials.     

Time division multiple access scheduling strategies for emerging vehicular ad hoc network medium access control protocols: a survey

Telecommunication Systems - The deployment of a broadband public safety (PS) mobile network can be undertaken in different ways. One method involves combining commercial networks with private ones...     

Imaging of biomedical data using a multiplicative regularizedcontrast source inversion method

In this paper, the recently developed multiplicative regularized contrast source inversion method is applied to microwave biomedical applications. The inversion method is fully iterative and avoids solving any forward problem in each iterative step. In this way, the inverse scattering problem can efficiently be solved. Moreover, the recently developed multiplicative regularizer allows us to apply the method blindly to experimental data. We demonstrate inversion from experimental data collected by a 2.33-GHz circular microwave scanner using a two-dimensional (2-D) TM polarization measurement setup. Further some results of a feasibility study of the present inversion method to the 2-D TE polarization and the full-vectorial three-dimensional measurement will be presented as well