Feeding Strategies to Reduce Nutrient Losses and Improve the Sustainability of Growing Pigs

The efficiency of pig production using nutrients has increased over the years. Still, better efficiency of nutrient utilization can be achieved by feeding pigs with diets adjusted to their estimated requirements. An increase in nutrient efficiency of utilization represents economic gains while maximizing environmental performance. The objective of this paper is to review the impact of different methods of diet formulation that provide farm animals with the amount of nutrients to satisfy their needs while minimizing nutrient excretion and greenhouse gas emissions. Diet formulation is one tool that can help to maximize nitrogen and energy utilization by decreasing crude protein content in diets. The use of local feedstuff and non-human-edible products (e.g., canola meal) associated with synthetic amino acid inclusion in the diet are valuable techniques to reduce carbon footprint. Precision feeding and nutrition is another powerful tool that allows not only daily tailoring of diets for maximal nutrient efficiency of utilization but also to reduce costs and improve nitrogen efficiency of utilization. In this review, we simulated through mathematical models the nitrogen and energy efficiency of utilization resulting from crude protein reduction in the diet. An 8% crude protein reduction in the diet can increase nitrogen efficiency of utilization by 54% while costing 11% less than a control diet without synthetic amino acids. The same reduction in crude protein represented a major improvement in available energy due to the decrease of energetic losses linked to protein deamination. Urinary and hindgut fermentation energy losses were 24% lower for pigs fed with low-protein diets when compared to control diets. In terms of modern feeding techniques and strategies, precision feeding and nutrition can decrease nitrogen excretion by 30% when compared to group phase feeding. The benefits of feeding pigs with low-protein diets and precision feeding techniques are additive and might result in a 61% nitrogen efficiency of utilization. There is room for improvement in the way nutrient requirements are estimated in pigs. Improving the understanding of the variation of nutrient utilization among pigs can contribute to further environmental gains.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON DIFFERENT FEEDING TECHNIQUES OF TEXTILE ANTENNA FOR GPS-L1 APPLICATION

This paper presents a comparative analysis of textile antenna using different feeding techniques for Global Positioning System (GPS-L1) application. Textile materials which are commonly used in the wearable application has gained much attention due to the flexibility and conformability characteristic of the antenna. Nevertheless, the flexibility of this antenna will introduce the bending and stretching element to its physical structure that may degrades the performance. To ensure the maximum power transfer takes place takes place between the source and the antenna, a suitable feeding method must be identified. In this paper, the microstrip feedline technique and coaxial feeding technique will be studied comparatively using Felt textile material as the substrate with the relative permittivity, ?r of 1.098 and tangent loss, ? of 0.0395. It is attached to a copper tape which act as the conductive material with thickness of 0.035 mm. Using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio software, the result will be analysed comparatively from the performance validation in return loss, gain, bandwidth, directivity and radiation pattern

Comparison of the efficiency and performance of two systems and three membranes for blood feeding mosquitoes

Objective Due to different concerns in using appropriate mosquito blood feeding techniques, this work focused on evaluating the effectiveness of two artificial mosquito feeding systems (Rutledge and Hemotek) and three different membranes (Parafilm, mouse and chicken skins). Female mosquitoes from an An. coluzzii strain aged between 2 and 5 days were exposed to blood with the two systems at time intervals (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 min) with blood used on the day of collection, the next day and 2 days after. Results Our results showed that the Hemotek system gave better blood feeding rates than the Rutledge system. Among the three membranes, the blood feeding rates with chicken and mouse skins were higher than those provided by the Parafilm membrane. Likewise, blood stored 1 day after collection gave higher levels than blood used on the day of collection and 2 days after. Regardless of the system, the lowest blood feeding rates were observed at 5 min compared to the other exposure times.

A Comprehensive Review of Different Feeding Techniques for Quasi Yagi Antenna

Yagi Uda antenna is a directional antenna but has limited bandwidth. To improve the bandwidth, various Quasi Yagi antennas can be designed by using different feeding techniques and different element shapes. In this paper, three different types of feeding techniques are reviewed i.e. microstrip-to-coplanar stripline transition (MS-to-CPS), coplanar waveguide feed (CPW) and Tapereded balun, which convert unbalance input to balance output. From the study it is found that MS- to- CPS transition provides higher bandwidth at the cost of low gain and lower frontto-back ratio. CPW is simple feed structure having compact size but lower gain. Tapered balun provides higher bandwidth but requires larger size.

The History of Alcoholic Liver Disease: From an Unrecognized Disease to One of the Most Frequent Diseases in Hepatology

This review describes the history of alcoholic liver disease from the beginning of the 1950s until now. It details how the hepatotoxicity of alcohol was discovered by epidemiology and basic research primarily by using new feeding techniques in rodents and primates. The article also recognizes the pioneering work of scientists who contributed to the understanding of the pathophysiology of alcoholic liver disease. In addition, clinical aspects, such as the development of diagnostics and treatment options for alcoholic liver disease, are discussed. Up-to-date knowledge of the mechanism of the disease in 2020 is presented.