Effect of Palm Kernel Cake Based Diet on Libido and Semen Quality of Malin X Santa-Ines Lambs

A study was conducted for six months at the farm of the Department of Animal Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Selangor (3' 00' N, 101' 42' E) to investigate the effect of palm kernel cake based diet on serving capacity and semen quality of Malin x Santa-lnes crossbred ram lambs. Twenty Malin x Santa-lnes crossbred ram lambs were randomly assigned into three dietary treatments namely (TI) 60% Palm kernel cake + 40% oil palm frond, (T2) 60% Palm kernel cake + 40% oil palm frond supplemented with 23 mgkg dry matter of molybdenum as ammonium molybdate ((NH4)6M07024.4H20a)n d 600mglkg dry matter of Sulfur as sodium sulphate (Na2S04) and (T3) control; 60% concentrate of corn-soybean mix + 40% oil iii palm frond. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) among the rams for the three dietary treatments for libido or mating behavior. All rams reached their optimum mating behavior (number of ejaculation = 6.7f1.3 and mating efficiency = 0.43kO.01) after the second month of the experiment. It was also found that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) for all the semen quality parameters among the rams under the three dietary treatments. Rams in all dietary treatments produced good semen and their sperm characteristics were within the ranges for good rams (semen volume = 0.7-2.0 ml; sperm concentration =2-5 X lo9 celldml; sperm motility > 80%; percentage of abnormal morphology 4 5%). Although there was a significant difference on the level of copper (Cu) accumulated in the liver (pc0.01) and testis (p<0.05), with highest values in rams under T1 (1089 + 189 ppm and 0.63 f 0.18 ppm, respectively), there was no symptom of toxicity observed in the rams. Therefore, it was concluded that PKC has no negative effect on serving capacity and semen quality of Malin x Santa-lnes crossbred sheep, at least for six months of the feeding period. It was also concluded that supplementing 23 mglkg dry matter of Molybdenum and 600 mgkg dry matter Sulphur to sheep fed on PKC based diet helps to protect Cu accumulation in the plasma, liver and testis of rams without negative effect on their reproductive capacity and semen quality. Even though higher serum testosterone was found in rams under diets T1 and T2 compared to T3, this did not reflect the actual reproductive level and sperm quality. Hence, it was concluded that serum testosterone level might not be a good indicator of reproductive performance of rams when blood samples are taken from conscious animals

Optimized reservoir operation model of regional wind and hydro power integration. Case study: Zambezi Basin and South Africa

The present study develops a reliability assessment method of wind resource using optimum reservoir target power operations that maximizes the firm generation of integrated wind and hydro power. A combined water resources model for a system of reservoirs that implements a priority based linear programing algorithm and a single node power grid system model is implemented on an hourly time step. This model was then accompanied by a genetic algorithm solver to determine optimum operation targets for each storage reservoir aiming at maximizing the 90th percentile power generation produced by the integration of wind and hydro over the entire simulation period. This model is applied on the reservoir storages and hydro power system in the Zambezi River basin to demonstrate how storage reservoirs could be used to offset wind power intermittence in South Africa subjected to different physical and policy constraints. Based on the optimized target operation and hourly data for the year 2010, the water resources system and power interconnection system were simulated together to assess the maximum firm generation of power as a result of the new wind and hydro combination target for storage hydro power plants. The result obtained indicates that high regulation of wind and hydro can be achieved as a result of combined operation and showed an increased level of wind penetration in South Africa's power system over the reference scenario. The results also indicated a reduced level of coal power utilization and less cycling requirement. This will have a positive outcome in terms of contributing to South Africa's goal towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the efforts to build green energy supply and resilience to the impacts of climate change

Impact of climate change on crops, irrigation and hydropower in the Zambezi River Basin

The past reliance on historical observed weather patterns for future investment in basic infrastructure planning (e.g., irrigation schemes, hydropower plants, roads, etc.) has been questioned considerably in recent years. For this reason, efforts to study the impacts of a changing future climate based on climate projections from global circulation models has been popular, where the coupled model intercomparison project models, used in the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Assessment Reports, are typically used. Studies tend to focus either on climate sensitivity, ignoring specific global circulation models predictions, or an effort is made to select a set of global circulation models for use in an impact study. Here, we present a method for quantifying the impacts on biophysical measures (surface water supply, crop production, flooding events, and hydropower generation) of the Zambezi River Basin countries using a large pool (6,800) of climate projections, which are based on the full set of the CMIP-3 GCMs (global circulation models ) and projected to 2050

An uncertainty approach to assessment of climate change impacts on the Zambezi River Basin

Many residents of the Zambezi River Valley are dependent on water-related resources. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may cause a significant change to the climate in the Zambezi Basin in the future, but there is much uncertainty about the future climate state. This situation leaves policy makers at a state of urgency to prepare for these changes as well as reduce the impacts of the changes through GHG mitigation strategies. First and foremost, we must better understand the economic sectors most likely impacted and the magnitude of those impacts, given the inherent uncertainty. In this study, we present a suite of models that assess the effects of climate change on water resources for four countries in the Zambezi basin: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. We use information from a large ensemble (6800) of climate scenarios for two GHG emission policies which represent a distribution of impacts on water-related sectors, considering emissions uncertainty, climate sensitivity uncertainty, and regional climate uncertainty. Two GHG mitigation scenarios are used to understand the effect of global emissions reduction on the River Basin system out to 2050. Under both climate polices, the majority of the basin will likely be drier, except for a portion in the north around Malawi and northern Zambia. Three Key Performance Indicators are used—flood occurrence, unmet irrigation demand, and hydropower generation—to understand the impact channels of climate change effects on the four countries. We find that floods are likely to be worse in Mozambique, irrigation demands are likely to be unmet in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and hydropower generation is likely to be reduced in Zambia. We also find that the range of possible impacts is much larger under an unconstrained GHG emissions case than under a strict mitigation strategy, suggesting that GHG mitigation would reduce uncertainties about the future climate state, reducing the risks of extreme changes as compared to the unconstrained emissions case

A hybrid approach to incorporating climate change and variability into climate scenario for impact assessments

Traditional 'delta-change' approach of scenario generation for climate change impact assessment to water resources strongly depends on the selected base-case observed historical climate conditions that the climate shocks are to be super-imposed. This method disregards the combined effect of climate change and the inherent hydro-climatological variability in the system. Here we demonstrated a hybrid uncertainty approach in which uncertainties in historical climate variability are combined with uncertainties in climate predictions to conduct more comprehensive climate change impact assessment to hydropower in Zambezi and Congo River basins. Synthetic ensembles of base-case scenarios of the significant climate variables were generated using frequency domain simulation to represent the uncertainty in natural variability. These were combined with large sets of uncertainties in future climate anomalies, hybrid frequency distributions which are based on the full set of the IPCC AR4 global circulation models. Biophysical modeling of water resource systems in both basins was conducted to study the impact of these scenarios. Results from this study indicate that the use of single base-case approach of delta-change technique could substantially underestimate the potential impact of climate change to hydropower. Particularly, assessments for water resource systems in areas with high natural hydroclimatic variability, careful consideration should be given to the natural variability as the combined effect is more pronounced

Impact of climate change on irrigation, crops and hydropower in Vietnam

Vietnam is among the countries that are assumed to be highly affected by the impacts of climate change through sea level rise; increased temperature and changes in precipitation resulting in changes in crop water requirements and yields; and changes in river flow with impacts on hydropower and the ability to meeting water requirements for municipal, industrial and agricultural uses. Fifty-six climate change scenarios for Vietnam were selected that span a range of wet to dry future climates for Vietnam. A set of biophysical models were employed to project the impacts on water supply, water demand and hydropower generation out to the year 2050. These climate scenarios show a drying trend in the north with an increase of precipitation in the central and southern regions. Model results suggest that dry season runoff will generally be reduced and that wet season peak runoff will be increased compared to current conditions with mean annual runoff, with extreme climate scenarios indicating increases up to 20 percent and decreases to 16 percent. Crop modeling results suggest that irrigation demand will mostly increase over Vietnam. The integrated river basin analysis over the 22 basins of Vietnam shows that overall hydropower generating capacity is typically only mildly affected by 2041 to 2050

Роль хламидийной инфекции в патологии человека

Освещены биологические свойства хламидий и вопросы эпидемиологии хламидийной инфекции. Показана ее большая распространенность, в том числе в Украине, и существенное патогенное влияние на здоровье мужчин, женщин и детей.Biological properties of Chlamydia and the problems of epidemiology of Chlamydia infection are featured. Its high frequency in many countries including Ukraine and considerable pathogenic influence on the health of men, women, and children are shown

Marked response to VNS in a post-cingulotomy patient: Implications for the mechanism of action of VNS in TRD

AbstractTreatment-resistant major depression (TRMD, major depressive disorder that fails to respond to numerous therapies) is a relatively common and clinically challenging disorder. In many cases, the most severely affected TRMD patients have received surgical intervention (subcaudate tractotomy, limbic leucotomy, anterior capsulotomy, and anterior cingulotomy). New treatments, including vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and deep brain stimulation, have emerged to treat individuals with TRMD. We describe the case of a woman, 53 years of age, with a long and sustained history of TRMD (33 years), which was unresponsive to numerous treatments (multiple pharmacotherapies, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy [ECT]). Additionally, her TRMD failed to respond to a bilateral anterior cingulotomy. She underwent placement of a cervical vagus nerve stimulator and a brief course of ECT (3 unilateral treatments). Her depression improved markedly, and it has remained in sustained remission for 3.5 years. This case suggests a potential synergistic effect of VNS and ECT, as well as provides possible clues to the neural circuitry of VNS in TRMD.</jats:p

Water Body Temperature Model for Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Thermal Cooling

We develop and test a physically based semi-Lagrangian water body temperature model to apply climatological data and thermal pollution from river-based power plants to historical river flow data in order to better understand climate change impacts on surface water temperature and thermal power plant withdrawal allowances. The model is built for rapid assessment and use in Integrated Assessment Models. We first test the standalone model on a 190km river reach, the Delaware River, where we have detailed flow and temperature data. An R2 of 0.88 is obtained on hourly data for this initial test. Next, we integrate the standalone temperature model into a series of models—rainfall-runoff model, water demand model, water resource management model, and power plant uptake and release model—for the contiguous USA (CONUS), with about 19,000 segments total. With this system in place, we then validate the standalone water temperature model within the system for 16 river stations throughout the CONUS, where we have measured daily temperature data. The model performs reasonably well with a median R2 of 0.88. A variety of climate and emissions scenarios are then applied to the model to test regions of higher vulnerability to river temperature environmental violations, making use of output from two GCMs and six emissions scenarios focusing on projections out to 2050. We find that the two GCMs project significantly different impacts to water temperature, driven largely by the resulting changes in streamflow from the two models. We also find significantly different impacts on the withdrawal allowed by thermal power plants due to environmental regulations. Potential impacts on generation are between +3% and -4% by 2050 for the unconstrained emissions case and +3.5% to -2% for the stringent GHG mitigation policy (where 1% is equivalent to 32 TWh, or about 3 billion USD/year using 2005 electricity prices). We also find that once-through cooling plants are most vulnerable to climate change impacts, with summer impacts ranging from -0.8% to -6% for the unconstrained emissions case and +2.1% to -3.7% for the stringent GHG emissions case

Potential of Cu–saponite catalysts for soot combustion

H– and Na–saponite supports have been prepared by several synthesis approaches. 5% Cu/saponite catalysts have been prepared and tested for soot combustion in a NOx + O2 + N2 gas flow and with soot and catalyst mixed in loose contact mode. XRD, FT-IR, N2 adsorption and TEM characterization results revealed that the use of either surfactant or microwaves during the synthesis led to delamination of the saponite support, yielding high surface area and small crystallite size materials. The degree of delamination affected further copper oxide dispersion and soot combustion capacity of the Cu/saponite catalysts. All Cu/saponite catalysts were active for soot combustion, and the NO2-assisted mechanism seemed to prevail. The best activity was achieved with copper oxide supported on a Na–saponite prepared at pH 13 and with surfactant. This best activity was attributed to the efficient copper oxide dispersion on the high surface area delaminated saponite (603 m2 g−1) and to the presence of Na. Copper oxide reduction in H2-TPR experiments occurred at lower temperature for the Na-containing catalysts than for the H-containing counterparts, and all Cu/Na–saponite catalysts were more active for soot combustion than the corresponding Cu/H–saponite catalysts.The financial support of Generalitat Valenciana (Project PROMETEOII/2014/010), Catalan Government (2014SGR1146), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Projects CTQ2012-30703 and CTQ2011-24610) and UE (FEDER funding) is acknowledged