Effects of n-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation on Performance, Relative Organ Weight and Fatty Acid Composition of Thigh Meat in Broiler Chickens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with marine microbe accumulating n-3 fatty acids on growth performance, relative organ weight and fatty acid composition of thigh meat in broilers. A total of 480 broilers were randomly allotted to three treat-ments with eight replications per treatment and 20 chicks per pen. A corn-soybean meal-based diet was formulated as a control diet and the broilers were then provided with one of the following dietary treatments:(1) CON(basal diet);(2) N0.1(basal diet+0.10% marine microbe accumulating n-3 fatty acids);(3) N0.2(basal diet+0.20% marine microbe accumulating n-3 fatty acids). No significant differences were observed in the growth performance or the relative organ weight among treatments. However, the levels of saturated fatty acids(SFA) and monounsaturated fatty acids(MUFA)were significantly lower(P<0.05) in groups that received the n-3 fatty acids treatments, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFA) were increased(P<0.05) significantly in these groups. Overall, these results indicate that dietary supplementation with marine microbe accumulating n-3 fatty acids can increase PUFA and decrease SFA and MUFA in thigh meat.

Evaluation of Stocking All Female Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) in Alabama (USA) Ponds

Excessive largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides ) recruitment in small impoundments leads to density-dependent growth depression, causing populations to have length distributions skewed towards smaller fish. To address this issue, we conducted three trials that evaluated stocking all female largemouth bass (F-LMB) in two small Alabama ponds (0.5 and 2.0 ha) where the drainage basin was isolated. Age-1 fish were individually identified for sex using a micro pipette inserted in the urogenital pore, tagged, and stocked at 38-40 F-LMB/ha into ponds that contained pre-established sunfish ( Lepomis spp.) populations. Female largemouth bass were collected with electrofishing, angling, and rotenone over a 2.5- to 5-year period among the three trials. Sex was correctly identified for 179 of the 180 F-LMB stocked. One male was detected in the first trial which resulted in successful largemouth bass reproduction and this trial was terminated after two years. Growth was rapid the first 2 years after stocking as 3-year-old fish reached an average of 429 to 459 mm and 1.37 to 1.66 kg in all 3 trials. However, 2 years after stocking, growth was nil in the second trial even though relative weights of F-LMB were generally greater than 100. In this second trial, removal of about 30% of the F-LMB inhabiting the pond and stocking small Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (25 - 75 mm) resulted in average weights increasing from 1.30 to 2.34 kg in 1 year. Growth of F-LMB continued in the third trail, and average size approached 500 mm and 2.2 kg three years after stocking. Annual survival rates of F-LMB were high and ranged from 0.78 to 0.93 among the 3 trials. Stocking F-LMB offers an attractive alternative in ponds to create a low density largemouth bass population that displays fast growth and high survival when catch-and-release fishing is primarily practiced.

Hypothesis testing for reliability with a three-parameter Weibull distribution using minimum weighted relative entropy norm and bootstrap

With the help of relative entropy theory,norm theory,and bootstrap methodology,a new hypothesis testing method is proposed to verify reliability with a three-parameter Weibull distribution.Based on the relative difference information of the experimental value vector to the theoretical value vector of reliability,six criteria of the minimum weighted relative entropy norm are established to extract the optimal information vector of the Weibull parameters in the reliability experiment of product lifetime.The rejection region used in the hypothesis testing is deduced via the area of intersection set of the estimated truth-value function and its confidence interval function of the three-parameter Weibull distribution.The case studies of simulation lifetime,helicopter component failure,and ceramic material failure indicate that the proposed method is able to reflect the practical situation of the reliability experiment.

High-resolution remote sensing data can predict household poverty in pastoral areas,Inner Mongolia,China

The accurate prediction of poverty is critical to efforts of poverty reduction,and high-resolution remote sensing(HRRS)data have shown great promise for facilitating such prediction.Accordingly,the present study used HRRS with 1 m resolution and 238 households data to evaluate the utility and optimal scale of HRRS data for predicting household poverty in a grassland region of Inner Mongolia,China.The prediction of household poverty was improved by using remote sensing indicators at multiple scales,instead of indicators at a single scale,and a model that combined indicators from four scales(building land,household,neighborhood,and regional)provided the most accurate prediction of household poverty,with testing and training accuracies of 48.57%and 70.83%,respectively.Furthermore,building area was the most efficient indicator of household poverty.When compared to conducting household surveys,the analysis of HRRS data is a cheaper and more time-efficient method for predicting household poverty and,in this case study,it reduced study time and cost by about 75%and 90%,respectively.This study provides the first evaluation of HRRS data for the prediction of household poverty in pastoral areas and thus provides technical support for the identification of poverty in pastoral areas around the world.

ON THE RELATIVE GENERALIZED HAMMING WEIGHTS OF A 4-DIMENSIONAL LINEAR CODE AND A SUBCODE WITH DIMENSION ONE

Finite projective geometry method is effectively used to study the relative generalized Hamming weights of 4-dimensional linear codes, which are divided into 9 classes in order to get much more information about the relative generalized Hamming weights, and part of the relative generalized Hamming weights of a 4-dimensional linear code with a 1-dimensional subcode are determined.

A PROPERTY OF THE RELATIVE SUBCODES

The relative subcodes are closely related to the concept of the relative generalized Hamming weight. Using projective geometry methods and the concept of the relative generalized Hamming weight, the authors prove a property of the relative subcodes which substantially improves the existing result.

Effect of different sources and levels of iron in the diet of sows on iron status in neonatal pigs

This study was conducted to determine the effects of maternal dietary supplementation of ferrous glycine chelate(Fe-Gly) and ferrous sulfate monohydrate(FeSO_4·H_2O) on the relative organ weight, tissue iron contents, red blood cells(RBC), hemoglobin concentration(HGB) and hematocrit(HCT) in blood, as well as ferritin(Fn), serum iron(SI), and total iron binding capacity(TIBC) in serum of newborn piglets.Forty-five sows(Landrace × Large white, mean parity 3 to 4, no significant differences in BW) were randomly allotted to 9 treatments(n=5 sows/treatment): control(basal diet with no Fe supplementation), the basal diet supplemented with 50, 80, 110 or 140 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Gly, and the basal diet supplemented with 50, 80, 110 or 140 mg Fe/kg as FeSO_4·H_2O.The neonatal piglets(n=45) were used to determine the relative organ weight, tissue iron contents and blood biochemical indices.Compared with the control, the relative weight of spleen and kidney were significantly increased(P < 0.05) in the Fe-Gly groups.The iron contents in liver,spleen, kidney and femur were also found increased(P < 0.05) in the Fe-Gly groups.The RBC(d 1 and 21),HGB(d 1 and 21) and HCT(d 1 and 21) in blood and Fn(d 1) and SI(d 1 and 21) significantly increased(P < 0.05), but the TIBC(d 1 and 21) in serum decreased(P < 0.05) in the Fe-Gly groups.Moreover, the kidney relative weight, iron content in liver, spleen, kidney and femur, RBC(d 1) and HGB(d 21) in blood, and SI(d 1)in the Fe-Gly groups increased(P < 0.05) compared with the FeSO_4·H_2O treatment.Linear and quadratic responses of the kidney relative weight, the iron content in liver, spleen, kidney and femur, RBC(d 1 and 21),HGB(d 1 and 21) and HCT(d 1 and 21) in whole blood, SI(d 1) and TIBC(d 1 and 21) in the Fe-Gly groups were observed(P < 0.05).Linear responses of Fn(d 1 and 21) and SI(d 21) in the Fe-Gly groups, and spleen relative weight, HCT(d 1), Fn(d 1) and TIBC(d 1 and 21) in the FeSO_4·H_2O groups were observed(P < 0.05).These finding suggest that Fe-Gly supplemented at the level of 110 mg/kg in the diet of sows in this experiment is superior to other forms of supplementation, based on HGB concentration, the relative organ weight, tissue iron contents and blood biochemical indices of piglets.

Studies on the Synthesis,Characterization and Properties of the Reactive Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Polymer

1 Introduction Four species of reactive thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (LCMC) with different relative molecular weight were synthesized in this work (see scheme 1, n=2, 6, 10, ∞.n means number of repeat structure unit). Their structure, morphology and properties were investigated systemically by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), polarizing opticalmicroscopy (POM) and ubb...