Testicular growth and comb and wattles development in three Italian chicken genotypes reared under free range conditions

Abstract Male chickens belonging to three Italian purebreds \u2013 Ermellinata di Rovigo (ER), Robusta lionata (RL) and Robusta maculata (RM) \u2013 were studied. All the birds were reared under the same rearing conditions (from May until autumn). Chickens were reared under infra-red lamps from birth until 4 weeks of age with a 24L:0D photoperiod. Then they were kept outdoor: the photoperiod changed according to the season (from 16L:8D to 12L:12D). At 138 and 168 days of age 20 birds/breed were weighed and then slaughtered. Testicular samples were collected, after evisceration, processed and embedded in paraffine wax. Sections were stained for morphological observations, observed with light microscope, and then classified according to the testis maturation stage. Ermellinata di Rovigo chickens showed the lowest (P<0.01) body weight and the highest (P<0.01) testes weight; testes maturity was higher (P<0.01) in ER than in RL, whereas RM was intermediate. For each genotype testes weight and testes maturity did not significantly differ with aging. Correlations between testes weight and body, comb, and wattles weight, according to the breed, were calculated at 168 days of age. For ER no significant correlation was found, whereas RL showed a significant (P<0.01) positive relationship between testes weight and body weight, and sexual secondary characters. Robusta maculata showed a significant correlation between testes weight and comb (P<0.01) and wattles weight (P<0.10). Our results suggest that under the studied environmental conditions ER showed the highest testes development according to its more precocious achievement of adult body weight, whereas RL was the least precocious purebred

Sous-spécification, accord et pronoms en arabe

Dans cet article, nous proposons un traitement unifié des différents usages des formes pronominales arabes de troisième personne (qu’il s’agisse de pronoms personnels, de copules ou d’explétifs). Nous montrons que cet objectif ne peut être atteint qu’en recourant à une (sous)spécification lexicale ou syntaxique appropriée.En second lieu, nous examinons la variation des formes explétives dans les langues, ainsi que celle des formes d’accord compatibles avec celles-ci. Nous montrons que dans les cas simples, les deux classes de formes sont liées, la liste des formes explétives étant dérivable de celle des formes pronominales de troisième personne qui peuvent être légitimées dans le contexte des formes d’AGR. En outre, un paramètre argunemtal est proposé pour AGR, selon lequel certaines langues autorisent uniquement un NP argumental dans Spec AGR. Par contre, d’autres langues autorisent également des NP non-argumentaux, mais elles requièrent que les traits phi (spécifiés) soient légitimés par des NP argumentaux (qui sont membres de chaînes explétives).The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it provides a unified treatment for various uses of Arabic so-called third person pronominal forms, be they personal pronouns, expletives, or copulas. It is proposed that appropriate lexical and syntactic (under)specification is needed to deal with this problem. Second, it investigates cross-linguistic variation in expletive forms as well as the properties of AGR forms which are compatible with them. It is argued that, in the simple case, the two forms are related, and that the list of expletive forms is derivable from that of third person forms which can be licensed in the context of AGR forms. An argumental parameter for AGR is proposed, according to which some languages allow only argumental NPs in the Spec of specified AGR. Others allow non-argumentals as well, but they still require specified phi features to be licensed by arguments (which are members of expletive chains)

The Public Face: Working the Front Desk of the UWC

A student’s first impression of the writing center is typically made at a reception desk. In the Undergraduate Writing Center (UWC) at the University of Texas at Austin, the front desk generally employs two staffers to welcome students, collect intake information, pair students with consultants, and do their best to ensure that consultations run smoothly. As a service that strives to provide a welcoming and supportive environment for students, the front desk's role is clearly important.University Writing Cente

Design actions with resilient local communities: Goals, drivers and tools

Since resilience is identified as the capacity of communities and institutions to manage environmental, economic and social urgencies in a good and innovative way, design research and actions create the right conditions to engage resilient processes. This paper is about the critical readings of some research projects developed at the Design Department of the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) through goals, drivers and tools presented as relevant for design actions with resilient local communities

FROM DAGUERREOTYPES TO DIGITAL AUTOMATIC PHOTOGRAMMETRY. APPLICATIONS AND LIMITS FOR THE BUILT HERITAGE PROJECT

This paper will describe the evolutionary stages that shaped and built, over the time, a robust and solid relationship between ‘indirect survey methods’ and knowledge of the ‘architectural matter’, aiming at producing a conservation project for the built heritage. Collecting architectural data by simply drawing them was considered to be inadequate by John Ruskin already in 1845. He strongly felt the need to fix them through that ‘blessed’ invention that was the ‘daguerreotype’. Today taking simple photographs is not enough: it is crucial to develop systems able to provide the best graphics supports (possibly in the third dimension) for the development and editing of the architectural project. This paper will focus not only on the re-examination of historical data, on the research and representation of the ‘sign’, but also on the evolution of technologies and ‘reading methods’, in order to highlight their strengths and weaknesses in the real practice of conservation project and in the use of the architectures of the past

From point cloud to BIM: a modelling challange in the Cultural Heritage field

Speaking about modelling the Cultural Heritage, nowadays it is no longer enough to build the mute model of a monument, but it has to contain plenty of information inside it, especially when we refer to existing construction. For this reason, the aim of the research is to insert an historical building inside a BIM process, proposing in this way a working method that can build a reality based model and preserve the unicity of the elements. The question is: "What is the more useful mean in term of survey data management, level of detail, information and time savings?" To test the potentialities and the limits of this process we employed the most used software in the international market, taking as example some composed elements, made by regular and complex, but also modular parts. Once a final model is obtained, it is necessary to provide a test phase on the interoperability between the used software modules, in order to give a general picture of the state of art and to contribute to further studies on this subject

Fisheye Photogrammetry to Survey Narrow Spaces in Architecture and a Hypogea Environment

Nowadays, the increasing computation power of commercial grade processors has actively led to a vast spreading of image-based reconstruction software as well as its application in different disciplines. As a result, new frontiers regarding the use of photogrammetry in a vast range of investigation activities are being explored. This paper investigates the implementation of fisheye lenses in non-classical survey activities along with the related problematics. Fisheye lenses are outstanding because of their large field of view. This characteristic alone can be a game changer in reducing the amount of data required, thus speeding up the photogrammetric process when needed. Although they come at a cost, field of view (FOV), speed and manoeuvrability are key to the success of those optics as shown by two of the presented case studies: the survey of a very narrow spiral staircase located in the Duomo di Milano and the survey of a very narrow hypogea structure in Rome. A third case study, which deals with low-cost sensors, shows the metric evaluation of a commercial spherical camera equipped with fisheye lenses

EMERGENCY SURVEY OF REMOTE AND ENDANGERED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

The paper describes the survey activities of the late Roman archaeological site of Umm al-Dabadib (Egypt). The interesting casestudy can be taken as an example in case of emergency surveys, as this method allows the complete 3D acquisition of a vast and complex area in a very short time and with the aid of simple instruments