Search Results (28,051)

Pneumatic conveying technology is an efficient, energy-saving and environmentally friendly means of solid feed conveying. In the process of pneumatic conveying, wind speed has a decisive influence on conveying characteristics. Here, computational fluid dynamics coupled with a discrete element method simulation and experiment were combined, and the conveying wind speed was used as the experimental variable to study the conveying characteristics of the conveying material in the tube, such as particle distribution state, solid phase mass concentration, coupling force on solid feed, average speed and pressure drop of solid feed in the pipe. The results show that when the conveying wind speed increases from 18 m/s to 20.6 m/s, the solid feed changes from sedimentary flow to suspended flow, the particle accumulation gradually decreases and the conveying efficiency is significantly improved. The particle slug greatly reduces the collision and friction between the internal particles and the pipe and reduces the crushing rate to a certain extent. When the conveying wind speed is about 23.2 m/s, there are almost no trapped particles in the pipeline, which can achieve rapid feed delivery, and conveying efficiency is greatly improved. Therefore, this paper provides a good theoretical basis for improving conveying efficiency and reducing crushing rate in the process of pneumatic conveying. Full article

The European Green Deal attaches great importance to sustainability, including food security, which is also linked to food safety. This is particularly relevant in such a sensitive region as the Mediterranean. The goal of this study was to investigate Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) notifications of hazards reported in 1997–2021 (a 25-year period) in products from northern Mediterranean countries considering products and other variables. A two-way joining cluster analysis was used. The most notable hazards in the latter years of the reported period were as follows: ochratoxin A and pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables imported from Turkey and ethylene oxide in various products, as well as Salmonella in chicken, Listeria in cheese, Escherichia coli in cheese and mussels from France, mercury in swordfish from Spain, and Anisakis in seafood from France and Morocco. The increasing number of notifications of ochratoxin A and pathogenic micro-organisms in recent years may be caused by climate change. This also results in the need to use more pesticides and the appearance of related hazards, i.e., residues of such compounds in food products. It is, therefore, vitally important that border posts and control authorities in particular European Union countries are vigilant. Full article

Improving the surface quality and controlling the microstructure evolution of difficult-to-cut materials are always challenges in high-speed machining (HSM). In this paper, surface topography, defects and roughness are assessed to characterize the surface features of 7050 aluminum alloy (Al 7050) under HSM conditions characterized by high temperature, strain and strain rate. Based on multi-physical field coupling, the mechanism of microstructure evolution of Al 7050 is investigated in HSM. The results indicate that the surface morphology and roughness of Al7050 during HSM are optimal at f_z = 0.025 mm/z, and the formation of surface defects (adherent chips, cavities, microcracks, material compression and tearing) in HSM is mainly affected by thermo-mechanical coupling. Significant differences are observed in the microstructure of different machined subsurfaces by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technology, and high cutting speeds and high feed rates contributed to recrystallization. The crystallographic texture types on machined subsurface are mainly {110}<112> Brass texture, {001}<100> Cube texture, {123}<634> S texture and {124}<112> R texture, and the crystallographic texture type and intensity are significantly affected by multi-physical field coupling. The elastic–plastic deformation and microstructural evolution of Al7050 alloy during the HSM process are mainly influenced by the coupling effects of multiple physical fields (stress–strain field and thermo-mechanical coupling field). This study reveals the internal mechanism of multi-physical field coupling in HSM and provides valuable enlightenment for the control of microstructure evolution of difficult-to-cut materials in HSM. Full article

This study aims to explore body weight estimation for cattle in both standing and lying postures, using 3D data. We apply a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-based (UAV-based) LiDAR system to collect data during routine resting periods between feedings in the natural husbandry conditions of a commercial farm, which ensures minimal interruption to the animals. Ground truth data are obtained by weighing cattle as they voluntarily pass an environmentally embedded scale. We have developed separate models for standing and lying postures and trained them on features extracted from the segmented point clouds of cattle with unique identifiers (UIDs). The models for standing posture achieve high accuracy, with a best-performance model, Random Forest, obtaining an $R^2$ of 0.94, an MAE of 4.72 kg, and an RMSE of 6.33 kg. Multiple linear regression models are trained to estimate body weight for the lying posture, using volume- and posture-wise characteristics. The model used 1 cm as the thickness of the slice-wise volume calculation, achieving an $R^2$ of 0.71, an MAE of 7.71 kg, and an RMSE of 9.56 kg. These results highlight the potential of UAV-based LiDAR data for accurate and non-intrusive estimation of cattle body weight in lying and standing postures, which paves the way for improved management practices in precision livestock farming. Full article

Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects 1% of live births globally. Infants with CHD often experience growth faltering and malnutrition due to increased metabolic demands, malabsorption, and feeding intolerance, further worsened by surgical interventions and frequent hospitalizations. Malnutrition in this population is linked to higher morbidity, extended hospital stays, and poor neurodevelopmental outcomes. The physiological diversity among CHD types presents significant challenges in developing a universal feeding strategy to optimize nutrition. This narrative review explores the interplay between CHD physiology and nutritional management. CHD types could be categorized into three hemodynamic groups—systemic hypoperfusion, global hypoxia, and pulmonary overcirculation—which help to consider a feeding approach based on such physiology. Nutritional management in these infants could be further tailored based on the disease severity, co-morbidities, and evolving hemodynamic changes. Based on clinical opinions, this review proposes a hemodynamic-focused risk-stratified feeding approach, considering ways that may enhance growth while possibly minimizing complications such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), pulmonary overload, and worsening heart failure. This approach may help individualize nutritional management to address the complex needs of infants with CHD. Further quality improvement studies are needed to assess this approach. Beyond meeting macronutrient needs, micronutrients, including zinc, thiamine, magnesium, vitamin A, and calcium, potentially play a role in cardiovascular health. Given the complexity of nutritional management in these infants, a multidisciplinary team may be needed to optimize care, including cardiologists, neonatologists, pediatricians, dietitians, speech therapists, and pharmacists. With the current knowledge gap and lack of strong evidence, research should focus on nutritional interventions and study their potential impact on infant outcomes with CHDs. Full article

Agroecology is increasingly used to study the evolution of farms and food systems, in which livestock plays a significant part. While large-scale specialized livestock farms are sometimes criticized for their contribution to climate change and nutrient cycle disruption, interest in alternative practices such as raising multiple species, integrating crop and livestock, relying on pasture, and marketing through short supply chains is growing. Through a narrative review, we aimed to determine if the scientific literature allowed for an evaluation of the agroecological contribution of alternative livestock farming practices. Taking advantage of ruminants’ capacity to digest human-inedible plant material such as hay and pasture on marginal land reduces the competition between livestock feed and human food for arable land. Taking advantage of monogastric animals’ capacity to digest food waste or byproducts limits the need for grain feed. Pasturing spreads manure directly on the field and allows for the expression of natural animal behavior. Animals raised on alternative livestock farms, however, grow slower and live longer than those raised on large specialized farms. This causes them to consume more feed and to emit more greenhouse gases per unit of meat produced. Direct or short supply chain marketing fosters geographical and relational proximity, but alternative livestock farms’ contribution to the social equity and responsibility principles of agroecology are not well documented. Policy aimed at promoting practices currently in place on alternative livestock farms is compatible with agroecology but has to be envisioned in parallel with a reduction in animal consumption in order to balance nutrient and carbon cycles. Full article

Biochar is potentially a functional ingredient in animal nutrition that offers health benefits such as detoxification, while also promoting environmental sustainability through carbon sequestration, emission reduction, and its circular production. However, the heterogeneity of commercially available biochar products requires a detailed assessment of their functional properties for applications in animal feed. This study evaluates chestnut biochar from morphological, chemical, and metabolomic perspectives and assesses its functional properties. Metabolomic analysis of a water extract using QTOF HPLC-MS/MS confirmed the presence of bioactive compounds, such as hydroxybenzoic and succinic acids, highlighting its potential as a functional feed ingredient. The chestnut biochar inhibited the growth of the pathogenic E. coli strains F18+ and F4+, with maximum inhibition rates of 15.8% and 28.6%, respectively, after three hours of incubation. The downregulation of genes associated with quorum sensing (MotA, FliA, FtsE, and HflX, involved in biofilm formation and cellular division) suggests that biochar interferes with several aspects of the pathogenic process. Importantly, biochar was not found to adversely affect beneficial probiotic bacteria, such as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Limosilactobacillus reuteri. These findings support the potential of chestnut biochar as a versatile ingredient for sustainable animal nutrition, thus promoting animal welfare while offering environmental benefits. Full article

In this paper various LLMs are tested in a specific domain using a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system. The study focuses on the performance and behavior of the models and was conducted in Spanish. A questionnaire based on The Bible, which consists of questions that vary in complexity of reasoning, was created in order to evaluate the reasoning capabilities of each model. The RAG system matches a question with the most similar passage from The Bible and feeds the pair to each LLM. The evaluation aims to determine whether each model can reason solely with the provided information or if it disregards the instructions given and makes use of its pretrained knowledge. Full article

Phenolic antioxidant intake is encouraged to prevent oxidative damage, and antioxidant synergy is considered an advantage in adding polyphenols from varied plants. This study investigated the antioxidant and synergistic interactions among olive leaf (OL), bay laurel (BL), and rosemary (RL) leaf powder mixture (LPM: OL + BL + RL), using in vitro chemical tests [TPC, ORAC, TEAC-ABTS, FRAP; combination index (CI)], and in vivo validation on blood oxidative status, metabolic profile, and intestinal histomorphology in laying hens. The in vitro study indicated a whole higher antioxidant capacity for the LPM than respective single/double-leave combinations. The LPM CI value (IC50, 0.60) indicated a synergistic effect compared to the binary combinations. Thus, the LPM was validated in vivo through dietary supplementation on sixty Lohmann Brown hens (30 weeks old), reared in an indoor–outdoor rearing system divided. The hens were allocated into two experimental groups (n. 30): basal control diet group; and diet supplemented group with 6 g/kg feed of LPM) containing OL, BL, and RL (respectively, at 65.7%:18.9%:15.4%), for 60 days. The LPM improved (p < 0.05) the oxidative status (TAS, FRAP; ROMs, TBARs) and vitamin E level, metabolic and immunological profiles, and it induced region-specific changes in the morphology and carbohydrate composition of mucins along intestinal tracts of the animals. These findings could provide a valuable strategy for identifying synergistic combinations in functional feed formulations for laying hens. Full article

This study investigates the effect of dietary Lactobacillus plantarum supplementation on juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Four groups of the juveniles (initial weight 103.87 ± 2.65 g) were fed for 10 weeks with four diets containing 0 (control diet), 10⁵ (T1), 10⁷ (T2), and 10⁹ (T3) cfu/g of L. plantarum. The main results are as follows: Compared with the control diet, the final weight, specific growth rate (SGR), and weight gain rate (WGR) of the juveniles fed the T1, T2, and T3 diet significantly (p < 0.05) increased, while the feed coefficient ratio (FCR) expressed an opposite trend. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) in the serum of the juveniles fed the T2 diet significantly (p < 0.05) increased, while the malondialdehyde (MDA) expressed an opposite trend. The expression of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (pi3k), AKT-interacting protein (akt), mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase (mtor), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (g6pd), sod, cat, and gsh-px genes in the liver of the juveniles fed the T2 diet significantly (p < 0.05) increased. In conclusion, the T2 diet significantly improved the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and upregulated key mTOR pathway genes in juvenile coho salmon. Full article

We present a three-dimensional, additively manufactured microstrip balun design for the balanced feeding of wearable antennas. Extensive research has been performed regarding wearable antennas, but the balun design is often ignored. The balun may be omitted, a commercial off-the-shelf balun may be used, or a bulky microstrip balun may be implemented; however, these options are either incorrect or add a significant size to the antenna that is not acceptable for wearable applications. We propose a three-dimensional, conformal microstrip balun enabled by additive manufacturing (AM) technology, and demonstrate its performance using the wearable High-Contrast Low-Loss Antenna (HCLA) as an example. First, the electromagnetic properties of potential substrate materials are characterized from 0.5 to 3 GHz. Exponential tapered baluns are designed, simulated, and tested in a back-to-back configuration to verify the measured material properties for the substrates. Then, the baluns are integrated with the HCLA using a conformal configuration. The measurement results from 0.5 to 3 GHz on the phantoms agree with the simulation for both the reflection coefficient and transmission loss. Importantly, the proposed balun allows the antenna to be used in wearable applications, where balun size would have previously hindered its implementation. The flexibility of the proposed design also allows for the integration with other antennas aside from the HCLA. Full article

Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination is a critical technology for addressing global water scarcity, yet its performance can be hindered by complex process dynamics and operational inefficiencies. This study investigates the revolutionary potential of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) for modeling SWRO desalination processes. PINNs are subsets of machine learning algorithms that incorporate physical information to help provide physically meaningful neural network models. The proposed approach is here demonstrated using operating data collected over several months in a Seawater RO plant. PINN-based models are presented to estimate the effects of operating conditions on the permeate TDS and pressure drop. The focus is on the feed water temperature variations and progressive membrane deterioration caused by fouling. Predictive models generated using PINNs showed high performances with a determination coefficient of 0.96 for the permeate TDS model and 0.97 for the pressure drop model. Results show that the use of PINNs significantly enhances the ability to predict membrane fouling and produced water quality, thereby supporting informed decision-making for RO process control. Full article

Background: The prevalence of sexual dysfunctions varies from 35.5% to over 80% among postpartum women. Controversy exists regarding the risk factors for female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in the postpartum period. It remains unclear whether breastfeeding types contribute to the development of FSDs differently. Aims: The primary goal of this meta-analysis was to explore the role of baby feeding practices in developing sexual dysfunctions in women. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search using the biomedical databases Scopus, CINAHL, Embase, the Web of Science, and PubMed/Medline. We looked for peer-reviewed, original studies written in English, Polish, and Arabic and published between January 2000 and June 2023. We included publications that reported scores in sexuality domains assessed with the Female Sexual Dysfunction Index (FSFI) and any sexuality-related issues during postpartum. The FSFI scores were combined in a meta-analysis using the random-effects inverse-variance model. Other findings were synthesized with a narrative review. Results: Eighteen articles met the eligibility criteria for the systematic review and meta-analysis. Sexual dysfunctions were detected in all the women, irrespective of the feeding type. Better overall sexual functioning was reported among women using complementary feeding than among those who breastfed exclusively or used baby bottles: 22.16, 95% CI [21.68; 22.65]; 21.61, 95% CI [20.27; 22.95]; and 20.18, 95% CI: [20.93; 61.30], respectively. Slightly lower scores were reported in all the FSFI subscales in exclusively breastfeeding women compared to those using the complementary method. Conclusions: Breastfeeding females experience difficulties in sexual life during the postpartum period, irrespective of the feeding type. These findings can help in designing preventive measures for tackling postpartum sexual dysfunctions in women. Full article

As the world’s population continues to rise while the agricultural workforce declines, farmers are increasingly challenged to meet the growing food demand. Strawberries grown in the U.S. are especially threatened by such stipulations, as the cost of labor for such a delicate crop remains the bulk of the total production costs. Autonomous systems within the agricultural sector have enormous potential to catalyze the labor and land expansions required to meet the demands of feeding an increasing population, as well as heavily reducing the amount of food waste experienced in open fields. Our team is working to enhance robotic solutions for strawberry production, aiming to improve field processes and better replicate the efficiency of human workers. We propose a modular configuration that includes a Delta X parallel robot and a pneumatically powered end effector designed for precise strawberry harvesting. Our primary focus is on optimizing the design of the end effector and validating its high-speed actuation capabilities. The prototype of the presented end effector achieved high success rates of 94.74% in simulated environments and 100% in strawberry fields at Farias Farms, even when tasked to harvest in the densely covered conditions of the late growing season. Using an off-the-shelf robotic configuration, the system’s workspace has been validated as adequate for harvesting in a typical two-plant-per-row strawberry field, with the hardware itself being evaluated to harvest each strawberry in 2.8–3.8 s. This capability sets the stage for future enhancements, including the integration of the machine vision processes such that the system will identify and pick each strawberry within 5 s. Full article

Taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA), one of the bile acids, is thought to be involved in the regulation of muscle nutrient metabolism and gut microbial homeostasis. However, the effect of dietary addition of TCDCA on Procambarus clarkii is unclear. Therefore, in this study, an 8-week feeding experiment was conducted to explore the potential regulatory mechanisms of TCDCA on P. clarkii growth, physiology, muscle quality and gut microbes. The results indicated that dietary addition of TCDCA not only improved growth performance (final weight; weight gain; and specific growth rate) but also increased muscle elasticity and protein content. In addition, dietary TCDCA promotes muscle growth and development by increasing myofiber length, which is consistent with the activation of the expression of genes related to protein utilization (TOR and AKT) and muscle proliferation and differentiation (MyHC, MLC1, MEF2A, MEF2B). Importantly, 16s rRNA sequencing demonstrated that dietary TCDCA had no significant effect on gut microbial composition (alpha diversity) but significantly increased microbial abundance at the genus level. Functional prediction analysis of differential microbes revealed that dietary TCDCA may promote metabolism by altering gut microbes, thereby promoting muscle quality. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that the dietary addition of TCDCA promotes P. clarkii growth and muscle quality and protein deposition by altering gut microbes. Full article