Use of high moisture corn silage replacing dry corn on intake, apparent digestibility, production and composition of milk of dairy goats

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Economic traits and performance of Italian quails reared at different cage stocking densities

This study assessed the effect of different cage stocking densities on the performance of Italian quails in the laying period. Two hundred and sixty four quails with 30 weeks of age and 280g mean body weight were used. Birds were randomly assigned to 96 x 33 x 16 cm cages and distributed in a randomized block design with 4 treatments (12, 15, 18 and 21 quails per cage or 264, 211, 176 and 151 cm² per quail, respectively) and 4 replicates. Birds were given feed and water ad libitum and submitted to the same experimental conditions. The experimental diet was formulated based on NRC (1994) recommendations. There were no significant differences among treatments for feed conversion per egg mass (kg:kg), percentage of broken eggs and mortality. There was a linear reduction (p<0.05) in egg weight, feed consumption, percentage of production, egg mass and feed conversion per dozen with the increase in stocking density. The gain per house per day was better at the cage density of 151 cm² per bird. However, the density of 211 cm² per bird provided the best gain per bird per day, because this stocking density had better productive indexes when compared with the other treatments.

Litter materials and the incidence of carcass lesions in broilers chickens

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different litter materials on litter compaction, broiler feathering and the incidence of carcass lesions. In the experiment, 3240 one-day-old Ross® chicks were selected by sex and distributed according to a completely randomized experimental design in a 2 x 6 factorial arrangement (two sex and six litter materials). The following litter materials were used: wood shavings, rice husks, chopped Napier grass, 50% sugar cane bagasse plus 50% wood shavings, 50% sugar cane bagasse plus 50% rice husks, and pure sugar cane bagasse. Litter compaction was weekly assessed using a penetrometer. on days 21, 35 and 42 of the experimental period, feathering on the back and legs was scored according to a 0 - 10 scale. on day 42, birds were slaughtered and the presence of bruises, scratches and footpad lesions was recorded. Litter material had no effect on bird feathering. Carcass lesions (scratches, bruises and footpad lesions) were influenced by the litter material evaluated. Birds reared on sugarcane bagasse and chopped Napier grass presented more scratches, bruises and footpad lesions than the others. Dermatitis was more evident in birds reared on sugarcane bagasse, chopped Napier grass and the combination of litter materials. It was found that males presented higher incidence of dermatitis and footpad lesions than females. Each litter material presented different compaction degrees, which increased along the experimental period. Sugarcane bagasse, chopped Napier grass and the combination of bedding materials presented the highest degree of compaction, compared with wood shavings and rice husks.

Apparent digestibility of diets with different concentrations of lysine and energy in piglets with different body weights and post-weaning age

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Histological Characterization and Immunohistochemical Localization of Ki-67 and VEGF Factors in Bitches' Corpus Luteum at Cyclic and Early and Late Gestational Diestrous

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Effect of weathering and thickness on the superficial microhardness of acrylic resin and ocular button

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

In situ effect of an erosive challenge on different restorative materials and on enamel adjacent to these materials

Objectives: This in situ study evaluated the effect of an erosive challenge on different restorative materials and on enamel restored with these materials, as well as the ability of these materials to protect the adjacent enamel against erosion.Methods: Ten volunteers wore palatal devices with eight bovine enamel blocks, randomly selected and distributed into two vertical rows, corresponding to the following groups: GI/GV, resin-modified glass ionomer; GII/GVI, conventional glass ionomer; GIII/GVII, composite resin; GIV/GVIII, amalgam. one row (corresponding to groups I-IV) was immersed in a cola drink and the other row (corresponding to groups V-VIII) was subjected to saliva only. The palatal device was continuously worn for 7 days and only half of the appliance (groups I-IV) was immersed in the soft drink (Coca-Cola (R), 150 mL) for 5 min, three times a day. The study variables comprised the wear (profilometry, mu m) and the percentage of surface microhardness change (%SMHC). Data were tested for significant differences by two-way ANOVA and Tukey's tests (p < 0.05).Results: Considering the restorative materials, for %SMHC and wear, there were no differences among the materials and between the saliva and the erosive challenge. For enamel analyses, the erosive challenge promoted a higher wear and %SMHC of the enamel than did the saliva. There were no significant differences in wear and %SMHC of the enamel adjacent to the different restorative materials.Conclusion: This research data suggest that there is little %SMHC and wear of the studied restorative materials and none of them had a preventive effect against erosion on adjacent enamel, which showed a pronounced wear. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of follicle size on mRNA expression in cumulus cells and oocytes of Bos indicus: an approach to identify marker genes for developmental competence

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Spermatogenesis and nucleolar activity in Triatoma klugi (Triatomine, Heteroptera)

Triatoma klugi is a Chagas disease vector in the Rio Grande do Sul State. Triatominae chromosomes are holocentric and sex chromosomes segregation is post-reductional. In this paper we describe the karyotype of male T. klugi and a meiotic analysis including the nucleolar behavior during spermatogenesis. Testis cells were analyzed after lacto-acetic orcein and silver nitrate staining. Two autosomes and the heterochromosomes presented nucleolar activity (Ag-NORs) during diplotene-diakinesis. The analysis of metaphase I and II revealed a karyotype with 2n = 20+XY. In metaphase I a prominent nucleolar mass was observed in the cell periphery and small silver grains were detected in metaphase II. During anaphase, the chromosomes segregated in parallel and a typical holocentric late migration behavior was observed. The restoration of the nucleolus was an important feature in this phase. During telophase nucleolar masses persisted and in early spermiogenesis the spermatids presented a small peripheral mass until elongation. The present study is a contribution to the study of chromatin behavior and nucleolar persistence in meiosis.

Classification and characterization of places for mapping of environment using hierarchical neural network and omnivision

Mobile robots need autonomy to fulfill their tasks. Such autonomy is related whith their capacity to explorer and to recognize their navigation environments. In this context, the present work considers techniques for the classification and extraction of features from images, using artificial neural networks. This images are used in the mapping and localization system of LACE (Automation and Evolutive Computing Laboratory) mobile robot. In this direction, the robot uses a sensorial system composed by ultrasound sensors and a catadioptric vision system equipped with a camera and a conical mirror. The mapping system is composed of three modules; two of them will be presented in this paper: the classifier and the characterizer modules. Results of these modules simulations are presented in this paper.

On Clifford subalgebras, spacetime splittings and applications

Z(2)-gradings of Clifford algebras are reviewed and we shall be concerned with an alpha-grading based on the structure of inner automorphisms, which is closely related to the spacetime splitting, if we consider the standard conjugation map automorphism by an arbitrary, but fixed, splitting vector. After briefly sketching the orthogonal and parallel components of products of differential forms, where we introduce the parallel [orthogonal] part as the space [time] component, we provide a detailed exposition of the Dirac operator splitting and we show how the differential operator parallel and orthogonal components are related to the Lie derivative along the splitting vector and the angular momentum splitting bivector. We also introduce multivectorial-induced alpha-gradings and present the Dirac equation in terms of the spacetime splitting, where the Dirac spinor field is shown to be a direct sum of two quaternions. We point out some possible physical applications of the formalism developed.

Anisotropic sound and shock waves in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Purification, sequencing and structural characterization of the phospholipase A(1) from the venom of the social wasp Polybia paulista (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

The biochemical and functional characterization of wasp venom toxins is an important prerequisite for the development of new tools both for the therapy of the toxic reactions due to envenomation caused by multiple stinging accidents and also for the diagnosis and therapy of allergic reactions caused by this type of venom. PLA(1) was purified from the venom of the neotropical social wasp Polybia paulista by using molecular exclusion and cation exchange chromatographies; its amino acid sequence was determined by using automated Edman degradation and compared to the sequences of other vespid venom PLA(1)'s. The enzyme exists as a 33,961.40 da protein, which was identified as a lipase of the GX class, liprotein lipase superfamily, pancreatic lipases (ab20.3) homologous family and RP2 sub-group of phospholipase. P. paulista PLA(1) is 53-82% identical to the phospholipases from wasp species from Northern Hemisphere. The use restrained-based modeling permitted to describe the 3-D structure of the enzyme, revealing that its molecule presents 23% alpha-helix, 28% beta-sheet and 49% coil. The protein structure has the alpha/beta fold common to many lipases; the core consists of a tightly packed beta-sheet constituted of six-stranded parallel and one anti-parallel beta-strand, surrounded by four alpha-helices. P. paulista PLA(1) exhibits direct hemolytic action against washed red blood cells with activity similar to the Cobra cardiotoxin from Naja naja atra. In addition to this, PLA(1) was immunoreactive to specific IgE from the sera of P. paulista-sensitive patients. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A multimedia environment for supporting the teaching of robotics systems

This paper aims at describing an educational system for teaching and learning robotic systems. Multimedia resources were used to construct a virtual laboratory where users are able to use functionalities of a virtual robotic arm, by moving and clicking the mouse without caring about the detailed internal robot operation. Moreover through the multimedia system the user can interact with a real robot arm. The engineering students are the target public of the developed system. With its contents and interactive capabilities, it has been used as a support to the traditional face-to-face classes on the subject of robotics.. In the paper it is first introduced the metaphor of Virtual Laboratory used in the system. Next, it is described the Graphical and Multimedia Environment approach: an interactive graphic user interface with a 3D environment for simulation. Design and implementation issues of the real-time interactive multimedia learning system, which supports the W3C SMIL standard for presenting the real-time multimedia teaching material, are described. Finally, some preliminary conclusions and possible future works from this research are presented.

Evaluating distributed generation impacts with a multiobjective index

Evaluating the technical impacts associated with connecting distributed generation to distribution networks is a complex activity requiring a wide range of network operational and security effects to be qualified and quantified. One means of dealing with such complexity is through the use of indices that indicate the benefit or otherwise of connections at a given location and which could be used to shape the nature of the contract between the utility and distributed generator. This paper presents a multiobjective performance index for distribution networks with distributed generation which considers a wide range of technical issues. Distributed generation is extensively located and sized within the IEEE-34 test feeder, wherein the multiobjective performance index is computed for each configuration. The results are presented and discussed.