Attractants in purified diets

Juvenile Penaeus monodon were reared on purified diets containing different attractants used to gelatinize the cornstarch: plain water, shrimp, mussel, squid or trash fish extract. The highest survival rate was observed in the group given the shrimp attractant, followed by mussel, fish and squid. However growth appeared best in the diet containing mussel extract. Mussel extract apparently can be used to enhance the attractability of purified diets.

The water stability of shrimp diets with various polysaccharides as a binding agent

The water stability of shrimp (Penaeus monodon) diets with various polysaccharides as binding agents were tested without steaming. The diet with alginate showed the best water stability and did not completely disintegrate in 24 hours. However, the use of alginate is dependent on cost and availability, so alternate choices may be a combination of sago palm starch and wheat flour or glutinous rice flour.

Gum arabic, carrageenan of various types and sago palm starch as binders in prawn diets

An experiment was undertaken in order to investigate the use of sago palm starch, gum arabic and carrageenans as binders in prawn diets. Water stability data are presented; EPT-2 carrageenan was found to be the best binder for both steamed and unsteamed pellets.

Coarse-level object recognition using interlevel products of complex wavelets

This paper introduces the Interlevel Product (ILP) which is a transform based upon the Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet. Coefficients of the ILP have complex values whose magnitudes indicate the amplitude of multilevel features, and whose phases indicate the nature of these features (e.g. ridges vs. edges). In particular, the phases of ILP coefficients are approximately invariant to small shifts in the original images. We accordingly introduce this transform as a solution to coarse scale template matching, where alignment concerns between decimation of a target and decimation of a larger search image can be mitigated, and computational efficiency can be maintained. Furthermore, template matching with ILP coefficients can provide several intuitive "near-matches" that may be of interest in image retrieval applications. © 2005 IEEE.

Multiscale object features from clustered complex wavelet coefficients

This paper introduces a method by which intuitive feature entities can be created from ILP (InterLevel Product) coefficients. The ILP transform is a pyramid of decimated complex-valued coefficients at multiple scales, derived from dual-tree complex wavelets, whose phases indicate the presence of different feature types (edges and ridges). We use an Expectation-Maximization algorithm to cluster large ILP coefficients that are spatially adjacent and similar in phase. We then demonstrate the relationship that these clusters possess with respect to observable image content, and conclude with a look at potential applications of these clusters, such as rotation- and scale-invariant object recognition. © 2005 IEEE.

Identification of major histocompatibility complex class I alleles in Chinese rhesus macaques

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I information is vital for understanding variance of immune responses in HIV vaccination and biomedical models. In this study, 9 Mamu-A and 13 Mamu-B alleles were identified from the cDNA products of 10 Chinese

Instabilities in the oscillatory flow of a complex fluid.

The dynamics of a fluid in a vertical tube, subjected to an oscillatory pressure gradient, is studied experimentally for both a Newtonian and a viscoelastic shear-thinning fluid. Particle image velocimetry is used to determine the two-dimensional velocity fields in the vertical plane of the tube axis, in a range of driving amplitudes from 0.8 to 2.5 mm and of driving frequencies from 2.0 to 11.5 Hz. The Newtonian fluid exhibits a laminar flow regime, independent of the axial position, in the whole range of drivings. For the complex fluid, instead, the parallel shear flow regime exhibited at low amplitudes [Torralba, Phys. Rev. E 72, 016308 (2005)] becomes unstable at higher drivings against the formation of symmetric vortices, equally spaced along the tube. At even higher drivings the vortex structure itself becomes unstable, and complex nonsymmetric structures develop. Given that inertial effects remain negligible even at the hardest drivings (Re < 10(-1)), it is the complex rheology of the fluid that is responsible for the instabilities observed. The system studied represents an interesting example of the development of shear-induced instabilities in nonlinear complex fluids in purely parallel shear flow.

Effect of diets containing various protein and energy levels on some growth parameters, survival and the production of Astacus leptodactylus in different salinities

A factorial experiment was conducted for 60 days to determine of the response of Narrow clawed crayfish Astacus leptodactylus (average weight of 17±2.3 g) to diets containing various protein and energy levels. Nine diets containing three levels of protein (30, 35 and 40 %) and three levels of energy (300,370 and 450 kcal/100g) were formulated and prepared in this trial. Each diet also was used in two levels of salinity include 0 (fresh water) and 12 ppt(Caspian sea water). So this study was conducted with 18 treatments and triplicates random group of 5 crayfish per each 110-litre tank. Weight Gain, Feed conversion ratio (FCR), Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER), Net Protein Utilization (NPU), Daily Food Consumption (DFC), Survival (SVR) and body composition of tail-muscle meat of animal were determined. Comparing the growth parameters in response to interaction between protein, energy and salinity levels demonstrated that all growth parameters have difference between them significantly (p<0.05). Comparing between survival in fresh and Caspian Sea water showed difference significantly. Compare the body composition results indicate the greatest amount of protein absorption in diet number 2(30/370) on fresh water condition. Results from this study indicate that narrow clawed crayfish can be fed a practical diet containing 30% protein and 370 Kcal/100g on non-salinity water which is the optimize CP percentage for their producer’s profits.

Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the Black-browed Barbet species complex (Megalaima oorti)

Although Southeast Asia is a global biodiversity hotspot, the tempo and mode of avian diversification there has not been well studied. We investigated the history of the diversification of an endemic Asian tropical bird, the Black-browed Barbet Megalaima