Bugs,Bats and Animal Estates: The Architectural Territories of ‘Wild Beasts’

For architecture, animals and insects have conventionally represented the threat of infestation - a parasitic and insanitary uninvited presence. Could the animal world, however, offer previously untapped opportunities for design innovation? At a time when the relationship between architecture and nature is coming under question, Ben Campkin takes the opportunity to bring attention to the wider social and geographical processes lying beneath the occupation of the man-made environment by insect and animal life. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

沼气干发酵技术在畜禽粪便处理中的应用研究进展

主要阐述我国目前的养殖场规模及污染现状,以及对于畜禽粪便处理的相关技术,重点阐述了干发酵技术的相关研究成果以及该技术在畜禽粪便处理中的利用前景。     

Development and validation of near infrared microscopy spectral libraries of ingredients in animal feed as a first step to adopting traceability and authenticity as guarantors of food safety

Traceability of animal products has become a priority for governments of the developed countries as a guarantee of food safety. Near infrared microscopy (NIRM) has been proposed as an alternative technology to detect and quantify banned ingredients in feedstuffs. The great advantage of this technique is its objectivity, whilst retaining the sensitivity of classic microscopy. The aim of this work was to build an NIRM reference spectral library on animal feed, consisting of samples of animal feed ingredients and possible contaminants, and to assess its ability to discriminate between ingredients using an internal cross-validation. A total of 48,899 spectra were measured on 229 samples representing 30 different ingredients. The method chosen for classification was K-nearest-neighbours (KNN) using first derivative spectra. Although the results showed an overall classification error of 35.88%, there was good discrimination between ingredients of animal and vegetable origin. There was some confusion between similar vegetable ingredients but this is unimportant.     

Constructal multi-scale cylinders in cross-flow

This paper reports a new concept for maximizing heat transfer density in assemblies of cylinders in cross-flow: the use of cylinders of several sizes, and the optimal placement of each cylinder in the assembly. The heat transfer is by laminar forced convection with specified overall pressure difference. The resulting flow structure has multiple scales that are distributed nonuniformly through the available volume. Smaller cylinders are placed closer to the entrance to the assembly, in the wedge-shaped flow regions occupied by fluid that has not yet been used for heat transfer. The paper reports the optimized flow architectures and performance for structures with 1, 2 and 3 cylinder sizes, which correspond to structures with 1, 2 and 4 degrees of freedom. The heat transfer rate density increases (with diminishing returns) as the optimized structure becomes more complex. The optimized cylinder diameters are relatively robust, i.e., insensitive to changes in complexity and flow regime (pressure difference). The optimized spacings decrease monotonically as the driving pressure difference increases. The multi-scale flow architectures optimized in this paper have features and qualities similar to tree-shaped (dendritic) designs, where the length scales are numerous, hierarchically organized, and nonuniformly distributed through the available space.     

铸造用动物胶与石英砂粘接机理研究

研究了影响铸造用动物胶与石英砂粘接强度的因素。用红外光谱、差热分析等方法研究了粘接机理。动物胶与石英砂之间的粘接力是分子间作用力、机械力和化学键力共同作用的结果。     

Estimating the probability and level of contamination with Salmonella of feed for finishing pigs produced in Switzerland—the impact of the production pathway

Contaminated feed is a source of infection with Salmonella for livestock, including pigs. Because pigs rarely show clinical signs of salmonellosis, undetected carriers can enter the food production chain. In a “Farm to Fork” food safety concept, safe feed is the first step for ensuring safe food. Heat treatment or adding organic acids are process steps for reducing or eliminating a contamination with Salmonella. The aims of this study were (I) to estimate the probability and the level of Salmonella contamination in batches of feed for finishing pigs in Swiss mills and (II) to assess the efficacy of specific process steps for reducing the level of contamination with Salmonella. A quantitative release assessment was performed by gathering and combining data on the various parameters having an influence on the final contamination of feed. Fixed values and probability distributions attributed to these parameters were used as input values for a Monte Carlo simulation. The simulation showed that–depending on the production pathway–the probability that a batch of feed for finishing pigs contains Salmonella ranged from 34% (for feed on which no specific decontaminating step was applied) to 0% (for feed in which organic acids were added and a heat treatment was implemented). If contamination occurred, the level of contamination ranged from a few Salmonella kg⁻¹ feed to a maximum of 8E+04 Salmonella kg⁻¹ feed. Probability and levels of contamination were highest when no production process able to reduce or eliminate the pathogen was implemented. However, most of the Swiss production was shown to undergo some kind of decontaminating step. A heat treatment, in combination with the use of organic acids, was found as a solution of choice for the control of Salmonella in feed.     

Foaming properties of soybean protein-based plywood adhesives

A study was conducted to evaluate the potential of soy protein-based plywood glues for foam extrusion. Foaming properties were the first criterion used to screen several soy protein sources. Foaming capacities and stabilities of glue mixes containing animal blood (control) or soy products (meals, flours, concentrates, and isolates) were compared and correlated with molecular weights and surface hydrophobicity indices (S _o) in an attempt to identify structure/function relationships. The blood-based glue mix produced more foam than any of the soy-based glues. Soy flours and concentrates generally produced greater foam volumes and more stable foams than soy meal and isolates. Differences in foaming properties could not be explained by solubility profiles or S _o. However, results of gel electrophoresis indicated that soy products with poor foaming properties had extensive structure modifications or contained considerably lesser amounts of protein available for foaming reactions. Glue mixes containing the soy flours ISU-CCUR, Honeysoy 90, Nutrisoy 7B, and defatted Soyafluff and the soy concentrates Arcon F, ISU-CCUR, and Procon 2000 demonstrated the desired mixing and foaming properties for foam extrusion.     

3D visual reconstruction of large scale natural sites and their fauna

The European DHX project is introduced in this paper and the vision-based 3D content authoring tools that have been implemented as a core part of its framework are presented. These tools consist mainly of two interrelated components. The first one is a hybrid (geometry and image based) modeling and rendering system capable of providing photorealistic walkthroughs of real-world large landscapes based solely on a sparse set of stereoscopic views. The second one deals with obtaining lifelike animal motion using as input captured video sequences of animal movement and prior anatomy knowledge. Both of these components have been successfully applied to a DHX research prototype aiming to create an integrated virtualized representation of the Samaria Gorge in Crete and the principal animals living in the ecosystem.     

Animals and AI. The role of animals in AI research and application – An overview and ethical evaluation

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and their fields of application are among the most debated developments of recent times. Although being widely discussed academically, publicly and in policy debates, certain aspects of their research, development and application are completely ignored, namely the impact AI has on animals. Animals are affected by the research on and development of this technology since it partially relies on animal testing. In addition, AI is also being applied to improve monitoring and marketing of animals in an agricultural context. We argue that it is insufficient to exclude these aspects from debates around AI. In addition to the surveillance-applications on animals, which can be evaluated as impacting them negatively, AI applications, from which individual animals can benefit, do exist. These can primarily be found in nature and wildlife conservation, as we point out at the end of the paper. By providing an overview on how these technologies are applied to animals and how this affects them, this paper aims to fill a previously existing research gap.     

In vivo diffusion tensor mapping of the brain of squirrel monkey, rat, and mouse using single-shot STEAM MRI

The purpose was to assess the potential of half Fourier diffusion-weighted single-shot STEAM MRI for diffusion tensor mapping of animal brain in vivo. A STEAM sequence with image acquisition times of about 500 ms was implemented at 2.35 T using six gradient orientations and b values of 200, 700, and 1200 s mm^–2. The use of half Fourier phase-encoding increased the signal-to-noise ratio by 45% relative to full Fourier acquisitions. Moreover, STEAM-derived maps of the relative anisotropy and main diffusion direction were completely free of susceptibility-induced signal losses and geometric distortions. Within measuring times of 3 h, the achieved resolution varied from 600×700×1000 m³ for squirrel monkeys to 140×280×720 m³ for mice. While in monkeys the accessible white matter fiber connections were comparable to those reported for humans, detectable fiber structures in mice focused on the corpus callosum, anterior commissure, and hippocampal fimbria. In conclusion diffusion-weighted single-shot STEAM MRI allows for in vivo diffusion tensor mapping of the brain of squirrel monkeys, rats, and mice without motion artifacts and susceptibility distortions.