Evaluation of an Active LF Tracking System and Data Processing Methods for Livestock Precision Farming in the Poultry Sector

Tracking technologies offer a way to monitor movement of many individuals over long time periods with minimal disturbances and could become a helpful tool for a variety of uses in animal agriculture, including health monitoring or selection of breeding traits that benefit welfare within intensive cage-free poultry farming. Herein, we present an active, low-frequency tracking system that distinguishes between five predefined zones within a commercial aviary. We aimed to evaluate both the processed and unprocessed datasets against a “ground truth” based on video observations. The two data processing methods aimed to filter false registrations, one with a simple deterministic approach and one with a tree-based classifier. We found the unprocessed data accurately determined birds’ presence/absence in each zone with an accuracy of 99% but overestimated the number of transitions taken by birds per zone, explaining only 23% of the actual variation. However, the two processed datasets were found to be suitable to monitor the number of transitions per individual, accounting for 91% and 99% of the actual variation, respectively. To further evaluate the tracking system, we estimated the error rate of registrations (by applying the classifier) in relation to three factors, which suggested a higher number of false registrations towards specific areas, periods with reduced humidity, and periods with reduced temperature. We concluded that the presented tracking system is well suited for commercial aviaries to measure individuals’ transitions and individuals’ presence/absence in predefined zones. Nonetheless, under these settings, data processing remains a necessary step in obtaining reliable data. For future work, we recommend the use of automatic calibration to improve the system’s performance and to envision finer movements.

Some climatological characteristics of mean sea level pressure in Bangladesh

On the basis of climatological data of 30 years (1951-1980) for 16 stations a climatological study of mean sea level pressure in Bangladesh has been accomplished. Spatial distribution and actual variation of mean sea level pressure have been studied. Attempt has been made to explain the cause of annual variation of mean sea, level pressure in Bangladesh from the point of view of synoptic meteorology. "Stability" of the meteorological stations of Bangladesh with respect to mean sea level pressure has been quired. The spatial variations of correlation of coefficients with regard to mean sea level pressure have been analysed. Finally, some characteristics of probabilities of mean sea level pressure at different materials for selected stations have been obtained.

Analytic Binary Alloy Volume–Concentration Relations and the Deviation from Zen’s Law

Alloys expand or contract as concentrations change, and the resulting relationship between atomic volume and alloy content is an important property of the solid. While a well-known approximation posits that the atomic volume varies linearly with concentration (Zen’s law), the actual variation is more complicated. Here we use the apparent size of the solute (solvent) atom and the elasticity to derive explicit analytical expressions for the atomic volume of binary solid alloys. Two approximations, continuum and terminal, are proposed. Deviations from Zen’s law are studied for 22 binary alloy systems.

EPANET modeling of an urban groundwater field

The paper presents an EPANET model of a groundwater well field. The method used in the simulations to model the variation of the hydrodynamic levels in wells as a function of the pumped flow rate is discussed, and a comparison to previous simulations that used fixed hydrodynamic levels in the wells is performed. The case study points to a groundwater well field in Romania. The results show that the new method although requiring a more complex EPANET model, provides a solution that is closer to the actual variation of water levels in wells.

So What “Should” We Use? Evaluating the Impact of Five Racial Measures on Markers of Social Inequality

In recent years, researchers have increasingly noted the malleability of racial boundaries across time, context, and life course. Although this research has advanced our knowledge of the maintenance and perceptions of racial groups, it has introduced a new question: If we are attempting to best capture the actual variation in racial inequality, how should we operationalize race? Using the 2006 wave of the Portraits of American Life Study, a national-level, in-home survey with extensive race measures and oversamples of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, the authors identify five ways that race can be and to varying degrees is operationalized: census, combined race/ethnic, pentagon, triracial, and skin tone measures. Using the Vuong non-nested model tests, the authors compare the effectiveness of these five measurements in predicting three measures of social inequality: household income, education, and self-rated health. The authors find that overall, Hollinger’s ethnoracial pentagon is best able to capture existing inequality. Thus, for scholars attempting to understand variation in contemporary racial inequality, this research suggests that scholars should use five monoracial categories: White, Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian.

Study of the Mechanical Properties of the Composite Scene Rigid Pavement Structure

s: Rigid Pavement composite performance is more complex, there is no analytical formulas can better predict its mechanical properties. This article by buried sensors in ShanMei Expressway Cement Asphalt Paving Project, on-site monitoring of the actual variation of the mechanical properties of the composite pavement structure, this study provides a theory basis for the optimization design of highway asphalt overlay structure of Cement Concrete Pavement.

Blending Time and Velocity Variations During Blending in a Tank Using Dual Opposing Jets

Blending times are required for many process industries, and statistical analysis of the measured blending times was used to determine a relationship between CFD (computational fluid dynamics) predictions and experiments. A 95% blending time occurs when tank contents are sufficiently blended to ensure that concentration throughout the tank is within ±5% of the total change in concentration. To determine 95% blending times, acid and base tracers were added to an eight foot diameter tank, and the pH data were recorded to monitor blending. The data for six pH probes located throughout the tank were normalized to a range of 0 to 1. Then the blending time was established when the pH converged between 0.95 and 1.05 on the normalized graphs. Evaluation of results from 79 different tests concluded that the maximum blending time occurred randomly at any one of the six pH probes. The research then considered the calculated 95% blending times, which had uncertainties up to more than 100% at a 95% confidence level. However, this uncertainty is considered to be an actual variation in blending time, rather than an experimental error. Not only were there significant variations in the blending times, but there were significant variations in the velocities measured at different points in the blending tank.

Bayesianism, Convergence and Social Epistemology

ABSTRACTFollowing the standard practice in sociology, cultural anthropology and history, sociologists, historians of science and some philosophers of science define scientific communities as groups with shared beliefs, values and practices. In this paper it is argued that in real cases the beliefs of the members of such communities often vary significantly in important ways. This has rather dire implications for the convergence defense against the charge of the excessive subjectivity of subjective Bayesianism because that defense requires that communities of Bayesian inquirers share a significant set of modal beliefs. The important implication is then that given the actual variation in modal beliefs across individuals, either Bayesians cannot claim that actual theories have been objectively confirmed or they must accept that such theories have been confirmed relative only to epistemically insignificant communities.