The conversions of ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām (d. 43/633): A legendary moment in the biography of Muḥammad's Jewish companion

The Jewish scholar ʿAbdallāh b. Salām is a legendary figure from early Islam who is regarded in Islamic tradition as the archetypal Jewish convert to Islam during the Prophet's career, the pre-eminent authority on Jewish scriptures in seventh-century Arabia, and a renowned Companion. This study examines the traditions on Ibn Salām's conversion that were recorded in the biographical literature and Quranic commentaries of classical Islam and identifies the literary tropes from Muḥammad's biography featured in these traditions. Scrutiny of the evidence shows that the reports on the date and circumstances of Ibn Salām's conversion were shaped by a number of factors, including, the biases of his descendants, Quranic exegesis, and anti-Jewish polemics. Ibn Salām's legendary conversion served as a vehicle for diverse groups of Muslims to promote their doctrines and supply the Prophet with Biblical legitimacy.

Cosmic voids and filaments from quantum gravity

Using computer simulations, we study the geometry of a typical quantum universe, i.e., the geometry one might expect before a possible period of inflation. We display it using coordinates defined by means of four classical scalar fields satisfying the Laplace equation with nontrivial boundary conditions. They are a close analogue of the harmonic coordinate condition used in the context of GR (Kuchar and Torre in Phys Rev D 43:419–441, 1991). It is highly nontrivial that these ideas can be applied to understand the structures which appear in very irregular and fluctuating geometries. The field configurations reveal cosmic web structures surprisingly similar to the ones observed in the present-day universe.

Optimal Level of Supplemental Manganese for Yellow-Feathered Broilers during the Growth Phase

This experiment investigated the effect of an optimized supplemental dietary manganese (Mn) on growth performance, tibial characteristics, immune function and meat quality, of yellow-feathered broilers. In three rearing periods, birds were fed for 21-d periods, from d 1 (starter), d 22 (grower) and d 43 (finisher), respectively, with basal diets (containing 16, 17, and 14 mg/kg analyzed Mn, respectively) supplemented with 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 mg/kg Mn. For starter phase broilers, supplemental manganese affected feed to gain ratio (F/G), and the minimum value was observed with 120 mg/kg manganese. During the grower phase, ADG increased quadratically (p < 0.05) with supplemental Mn and was maximal with 54 mg/kg additional manganese estimated using the regression equation. There was no influence of supplemental manganese on growth performance of broilers during the finisher phase (p > 0.05). The thymic relative weight of broilers were linearly (p < 0.05) and quadratically (p < 0.05) increased with supplemental Mn and maxima were obtained with 95 and 110 mg/kg additional Mn at 42 d and 63 d. The bone density of the tibia in broilers at d 21, 42 and 63 were increased quadratically (p < 0.05) by supplemental Mn, and optimal supplementation for the three phases was 52, 60 and 68 mg/kg, respectively. The weight, diameter, breaking strength and bone density of the tibia of 63-d broilers were influenced (p < 0.05) by supplemental manganese. The lightness (L*) value (linear, p < 0.05) and yellowness (b*) value (p < 0.05) of the breast muscle were decreased by dietary manganese supplementation, and the optimal supplementation, based on L*, was 86 mg/kg. In conclusion, supplemental Mn affected the growth performance, thymic relative weight, tibial characteristics, and the meat color of yellow-feathered broilers. From the quadratic regressions, the optimal supplementation of yellow-feathered broilers at the starter, grower and finisher phases to achieve the best performance was 52, 60, and 68 mg/kg, respectively.

Effect of ractopamine hydrochloride on environmental gas emissions, growth performance, and carcass characteristics in feedlot steers

With a growing global population and increased environmental concerns around animal agriculture, it is essential to humanely maximize animal performance and reduce environmental emissions. The present study aims to determine the efficacy of feeding ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC), an orally active, β1–adrenergic agonist (β1AA), to feedlot steers in the last 42 d of finishing to reduce ammonia (NH3) emissions and improve animal performance. A randomized complete block design was used to allocate 112 Angus and crossbred Angus steers (Initial BW = 566.0 ± 10.4 kg) to 8 cattle pen enclosures. Pens (n = 4/treatment, 14 steers/pen, 56 steers/treatment) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: 1) CON; finishing ration containing no RAC, 2) RAC; finishing ration containing 27.3 g/907 kg dry matter (DM) basis RAC. Steers were weighed on d -1 and 0 before treatment and d 14, 28, and 42 during treatment. Treatment rations were mixed and delivered daily by masked personnel. Measured emissions included NH3, nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and carbon dioxide (CO2). The primary response variables assessed were emissions standardized by live weight (LW) and hot carcass weight (HCW). Steers were harvested on d 43 and carcass data was collected on d 43 and 44. Steers fed RAC reduced NH3 emissions by 17.21% from d 0 to 28 (P = 0.032) and tended to reduce NH3 from d 0 to 42 by 11.07% (P = 0.070) vs. CON. When standardized for LW, NH3 was reduced by 23.88% from d 0 to 14 (P = 0.018), 17.80% from d 0 to 28 (P = 0.006), and 12.50% for d 0 to 42 (P = 0.027) in steers fed RAC vs. CON. Steers fed RAC had 14.05% (P = 0.013) lower cumulative NH3 emissions when standardized by HCW vs. CON. Feeding RAC to Steers reduced H2S by 29.49% from d 0 to 14 (P = 0.009) and tended to reduce H2S over d 0 to 28 by 11.14% (P = 0.086) vs. CON. When H2S emissions were standardized for LW, RAC fed steers had a 28.81% reduction from d 0 to 14 (P = 0.008) vs. CON. From d 0 to 42 the RAC fed steers tended to have a 0.24 kg/d greater ADG (P = 0.066) and tended to eat 4.27% less (P = 0.069) on a DM basis vs. CON. The RAC fed steers had a 19.95% greater gain to feed ratio compared to CON (P = 0.012). Steers fed RAC had an average of 12.52 kg greater HCW (P = 0.006) and an increase of 1.93 percentage units in dressing percent (P = 0.004) vs. CON. Ractopamine is an effective medicated feed additive for reducing NH3 and improving end product performance through HCW yields.

198 Effects of Bacillus Spp. on Pathogen Inhibition in vitro and on Growth Performance and Bacterial Shedding in Growing Finishing Pigs

Three experiments (EXP) were conducted to evaluate effectiveness of Bacillus strains on pathogen inhibition in vitro (EXP. 1 and 2) and on growing-finishing pig performance and bacteria shedding (EXP. 3). In EXP. 1, antimicrobial activity of 4 individual Bacillus strains were tested against 9 bacterial pathogens using agar diffusion cross-streak assay. In EXP. 2, a combination of 4 strains (FS4) was evaluated for antimicrobial activity against surrogate strains of the same pathogens in EXP. 1 using well-diffusion and competitive exclusion assays. There were strong inhibitory effects against Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus aureus with zones of inhibition (ZOI) up to 18.1 and 13.7 mm, respectively. Moderate effects were observed against Listeria monocytogenes, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium with ZOI up to 8.7, 8.7, 8.1, and 6.3 mm, respectively. On broth, FS4 inhibited Listeria completely (9 log10 CFU/mL) and reduced Staphylococcus by 8 log10 CFU/mL after 24h co-cultivation. In EXP. 3, 236 pigs (initial BW: 33 kg; 6–7 pigs/pen; 17 pens/treatment) were used to evaluate effects of feeding FS4 (7.5 x 104 CFU/g of feed) vs. the control (CON) diets. On d 0, 49, and at market, a pooled fresh fecal sample per pen was obtained for the enumeration of total Salmonella, E. coli, coliform, and Lactobacillus. Feeding FS4 improved (P &lt; 0.05) BW (d 72), ADG (d 43–72 and d 0–72), and Feed:Gain (d 43–72) compared to CON. Overall, pigs fed FS4 were numerically heavier (1.1 kg) than CON pigs. FS4 reduced (P &lt; 0.05) total coliform counts in pigs at market, and numerically reduced E. coli at d 49; however, FS4 had no impact on Lactobacillus. Our data indicate that FS4 had strong inhibitory effects against Streptococcus, Listeria, and Staphylococcus and feeding FS4 improved performance of pigs and lowered coliform shedding without impacting Lactobacillus.

Características Psicológicas en Deportistas con Discapacidad Física (Psychological Characteristics in athletes with physical disability)

La preparación psicológica es importante para los deportistas en cualquier nivel del rendimiento, incluso para deportistas con discapacidad. Sin embargo, la investigación de psicología aplicada al deporte adaptado es limitada. Con el doble objetivo de identificar las Características Psicológicas (CP) de los deportistas con discapacidad física, y comparar el comportamiento de las CP en función a la experiencia deportiva, edad, sexo, y tipo de deporte (equipo vs individual), se diseñó un estudio no-experimental, transversal. Participaron 87 deportistas con discapacidad física, pertenecientes a la Liga de Antioquia (Colombia) de once disciplinas deportivas: ajedrez, atletismo, arquería, baloncesto, levantamiento de pesas, natación, rugby, tiro deportivo, tenis de mesa, tenis de campo, y voleibol. El rango de edad osciló entre los 18 y 71 años (Medad= 34.9, DE=10.8), varones n= 71 (Medad= 35.2, DE=11.2) y mujeres n= 16 (Medad= 33.3, DE=9.2). Fue completado el Cuestionario de Características Psicológicas Relacionadas con Rendimiento Deportivos (CPRD). Los resultados señalaron que las CP no mostraron diferencias respecto a la experiencia deportiva, edad. sexo. La Cohesión de Equipo mostró diferencias por sexo (p= .092, d=.43) y entre tipo de deportes, equipo vs individual, (p<.001, d=.83). Se concluye que las CP presentaron un comportamiento homogéneas según la experiencia deportiva, edad y sexo. Hay diferencias en el factor de Cohesión de Equipo favorable para los deportistas de equipo. Futuras investigaciones pueden analizar el deporte adaptado en comparación al deporte convencional. El deporte adaptado requiere de mayor investigación que puedan aportar conocimiento para los profesionales de las ciencias del deporte.

170 Effects of Dietary Phytogenic Supplementation to a Finishing Diet on Intake, Digestibility, Nitrogen Balance and Carcass Measures

Dietary manipulations to include tannins can change the proportion and amount of nitrogen (N) excreted in the urine and feces as well as improve N-use efficiency in ruminants. Our objective was to determine the effects of different levels of phytogenic supplementation (Actifor®) on intake, digestibility, carcass measures, and N balance of lambs offered a corn-based finishing diet. Twenty-six lambs (31.5 ± 5.39 kg BW) were allocated randomly to 1 of 3 corn-based finishing diets (85% concentrate) that were offered for ad libitum consumption. Lambs were housed individually in 1 × 1.5-m pens with plastic-coated grate flooring (n = 18; 6/trt) or 1.5 × 4.3-m pens with rubber mat flooring (n = 8; 2 or 3/trt). Diets were not supplemented or supplemented with 4 or 8 g/d of Actifor® (n = 8, 9, and 9 lambs/trt, respectively). A 7-d total fecal and urine collection period (n = 6 lambs/trt) began on d 43. On d 50, rumen samples were taken at 0800, 1100, and 1400 h for measurement of pH and VFA concentrations. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS, and orthogonal linear and quadratic contrasts were used to assess phytogenic supplementation level effects. Intake and digestibility of DM and OM were not different across treatments (P ≥ 0.32). Average fecal N and lamb shrink before slaughter increased linearly (P ≤ 0.05) with increasing levels of phytogenic supplementation. Propionate and acetate:propionate decreased (P ≤ 0.05) and acetate, valerate, and pH tended to increase quadratically (P ≤ 0.08) with increasing phytogenic inclusion. Back-fat and yield grade tended (P = 0.06) to decrease linearly and dressing percentage tended (P = 0.06) to decrease quadratically with increasing phytogenic inclusion. Phytogenic supplementation increased average fecal N and improved some carcass measures, but did not affect diet digestibility.

PSII-21 The Effect of Feeding a LucraFit® Feed Nursery Program without Lactose on Piglet Performance

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding LucraFit® Feed nursery program without lactose on piglet performance. A total of 440 weanling pigs, initial weight of 5.76 ± 0.23 kg., were randomly assigned to either Control or LucraFit® Feed treatments with 11 replicates per treatment and 20 pigs per pen. Pigs were weighed at day 0, 8, 15, 21, 29, and 43 post-weaning with corresponding ADG, ADFI, and G:F calculated for each time period. Data was analyzed using the Mixed procedure of SAS. Pigs were fed a three-phase nursery program with 2.27, 5.44, and 13.19 kg/pig for phases 1-3 respectively. Control diets contained 12.5% lactose in phase 1, 5% lactose in phase 2, and 0% lactose in phase 3. LucraFit® Feed diets contained 0% lactose in all phases. LucraFit® Feed was added at 2.5% and 1.25% in phase 1 and 2 respectively. During d0 to 8, there was no significant difference in growth measurements. During d8 to 15, pigs fed LucraFit® Feed treatment had increased (P=0.039) ADG (0.296 vs 0.266 kg/d) and improved (P=0.035) G:F ratio (0.977 vs 0.923). During d15 to 21, ADG was not significantly different between treatments, however ADFI was tended to increase (P=0.061) with the LucraFit® Feed treatment (0.526 vs 0.497 kg/d) resulting in decreased (P=0.047) G:F ratio (0.783 vs 0.824). Through d21 to 43, LucraFit® Feed tended to improve (P=0.082) G:F ratio (0.676 vs 0.660). Overall (d0 to 43) G:F ratio tended to improve (P=0.082) with the LucraFit® Feed treatment (0.723 vs 0.709). No significant differences were observed in pig removals between treatments. Final (d 43) body weight was not significantly different between treatments. These results suggest that pigs can be started on a LucraFit® Feed nursery program with 0% lactose without having a negative impact on nursery performance.

301 Effects of housing system on performance and behavior of dairy calves before and after weaning

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of housing system on performance and behavior of dairy calves during pre-weaning (d 1–42), weaning (d 43–56), post-weaning (d 57–63) and mixing (d 64–70) period. Thirty-seven newborn Holstein dairy calves were allocated to individual (n = 17) or pair housing (n = 10 pairs). After that, calves remained in their pens until d 63 ± 1, and then PH group and IH group were mixed and moved to 6 group pens randomly. Starter intake, fecal consistency scores and body weight were collected. Instantaneous scan-sampling with 5-min intervals was used to collect the behavioral observations (lying, ruminating, standing, eating, drinking, walking, self-grooming, manipulating object) for 48 h beginning on d 43, 50, 57 and the second day after mixing. Data were analyzed by mixed effect model with treatment, time, and the interaction between them as fixed effects, and animal within treatment as a random effect. During post-weaning period, PH group had higher starter intake (P = 0.02) and average daily gain (P = 0.02) than IH group. PH group weighed more on d 63 (P = 0.002) and d 70 (P = 0.002). PH group had higher diarrhea frequency than IH group in week 3 (P = 0.03). PH increased lying time in week 8 (P = 0.03) and walking time during post-weaning period (P = 0.05), yet IH group spent more time standing in week 8 (P = 0.008), eating during post-weaning period (P = 0.008), self-grooming during weaning period (week 7, P = 0.007; week 8, P = 0.03). Furthermore, previous housing system had no effect on calves’ behavior after mixing. In conclusion, Pair housing during post-weaning period improved performance of calves and housing system had on effect on behavior after mixing. Figure 1. ADG (mean±SEM) for calves housed individually (n = 17 calves) or in pairs (n = 10 pairs). PH = calves housed in pairs; IH = calves housed individually. * P ≤ 0.05, † P &lt; 0.10. Figure 2. BW (mean±SEM) for calves housed individually (n = 17 calves) or in pairs (n = 10 pairs). PH = calves housed in pairs; IH = calves housed individually. * P ≤ 0.05, † P &lt; 0.10. Figure 3. Diarrhea frequency for calves housed individually (n = 17 calves) or in pairs (n = 10 pairs) before 63d. PH = calves housed in pairs; IH = calves housed individually. * P ≤ 0.05. Figure 4. Time (mean±SEM) for calves (n = 6) performing each behavior as affected by different housing system during weaning, post-weaning and mixing period.* P ≤ 0.05.