Maternal investment, sibling competition, and offspring survival with increasing litter size and parity in pigs (Sus scrofa)

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of litter size and parity on sibling competition, piglet survival, and weight gain. It was predicted that competition for teats would increase with increasing litter size, resulting in a higher mortality due to maternal infanticide (i.e., crushing) and starvation, thus keeping the number of surviving piglets constant. We predicted negative effects on weight gain with increasing litter size. Based on maternal investment theory, we also predicted that piglet mortality would be higher for litters born late in a sow's life and thus that the number of surviving piglets would be higher in early litters. As predicted, piglet mortality increased with increasing litter size both due to an increased proportion of crushed piglets, where most of them failed in the teat competition, and due to starvation caused by increased sibling competition, resulting in a constant number of survivors. Piglet weight at day 1 and growth until weaning also declined with increasing litter size. Sows in parity four had higher piglet mortality due to starvation, but the number of surviving piglets was not affected by parity. In conclusion, piglet mortality caused by maternal crushing of piglets, many of which had no teat success, and starvation caused by sibling competition, increased with increasing litter size for most sow parities. The constant number of surviving piglets at the time of weaning suggests that 10 to 11 piglets could be close to the upper limit that the domestic sow is capable of taking care of

A multimodal data-set of a unidirectional glass fibre reinforced polymer composite

<p>A multimodal data-set of a unidirectional glass fibre reinforced polymer composite submitted as a data in brief:</p> <p>"<em>A multimodal data-set of a unidirectional glass fibre reinforced polymer composite</em>", submitted to Data in brief, 2018.</p> <p>Together with the following article:</p> <p>M. J. Emerson, V.A. Dahl, K. Conradsen, L. P. Mikkelsen, A. B. Dahl, Statistical validation of individual fibre segmentation from tomograms and microscopy, <em>Compos. Sci. and Technol.,</em> 2018 (accepted subject to minor reviews).</p

ACCELERATED LEARNING BERBANTUAN SOFTWARE MAPLE SEBAGAI UPAYA MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN KOMUNIKASI MATEMATIS DAN MINAT BELAJAR SISWA SMA

Penelitian ini dilatarbelakangi oleh pentingnya kemampuan komunikasi matematis dan minat belajar. Namun kenyataan di lapangan menunjukkan bahwa kemampuan komunikasi matematisdan minat belajarsiswa masih rendah. Agar permasalahan tersebut dapat diatasi, diperlukan sebuah model pembelajaran yang dapatmeningkatkankemampuan komunikasi matematis dan minat belajarsiswa.Olehkarenaitu, dipilih modelAccelerated Learning Berbantuan Software Maple. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menelaahpeningkatan kemampuan komunikasi matematis dan minat belajarsiswa, danmenelaahhubunganantara kemampuan komunikasi dan minat belajar.Penelitianinimerupakanpenelitiankuasieksperimendenganpretest-postest control group design. Populasi pada penelitian ini adalah seluruh siswa kelas X pada salah satu SMA Negeri di Kota Purwokerto. Sampel terdiri dari dua kelas yang dipilih secara purposive sampling.Instrumen yang digunakan berupa tes kemampuan komunikasi matematis dan angket minat belajar, lembar observasi, serta pedoman wawancara. Analisis data dilakukan secara kuantitatif.Analisis data tersebutmenggunakanMann-Whitney U Testdan uji asosiasi Chi Square. Berdasarkan analisis data, ditemukan bahwa: (1)pencapaian kemampuan komunikasi matematis siswa yang memperoleh Accelerated LearningBerbantuanSoftware Maplelebih baik daripada siswa yang memperoleh pembelajaran biasa;(2) peningkatan kemampuan komunikasi matematis siswa yang memperoleh Accelerated LearningBerbantuanSoftware Maplelebih baik daripada siswa yang memperoleh pembelajaran biasa, (3) pencapaian kemampuan minat belajar siswa yang memperoleh Accelerated LearningBerbantuanSoftware Maplelebih baik daripada siswa yang memperoleh pembelajaran biasa; (4) peningkatan kemampuan minat belajar siswa yang memperoleh Accelerated LearningBerbantuanSoftware Maplelebih baik daripada siswa yang memperoleh pembelajaran biasa; dan(5) terdapat asosiasi antara kemampuan komunikasi dan minat belajarsiswadengan kategori rendah. ---------- This research was motivated by the importance of mathematical communication learning interest of students. Mathematical communication ability and learning interest of students is still low. In order that this problemscan be solved, alearning modelthatcan enhancemathematical communication and learning interest ofstudents is required.In this research, Maple-Assisted Accelerated Learning was selected. This studyaims to analyzetheenhancement of mathematical communication learning interest of students, and to analyzetheassociationbetween mathematical communication ability andlearning interest of students. This research was aquasi-experimentalwithpretest-posttest control group design. The population was students at tenth gradein one of senior high schools in Purwokerto, Central Java. The sample consisted oftwoclasses which wasselected bypurposivesampling. This research used fourinstruments: testof mathematicalcommunication ability, learning interestquestionnaire, observation sheets, and interview guide.Data analyzed was done quantitatively. The data were analyzed by usingMann-Whitney U TestandChi Squaren test. Based on the data analyze, it is found that: (1) the achievement of mathematical communication ability of students who receivedthe Maple-Assisted Accelerated Learning is betterthan the achievement of students who receivedconventionallearning;(2) The enhancement of mathematical communication ability of students who receivedthe Maple-Assisted Accelerated Learning is betterthan the enhancement of students who receivedconventionallearning; (3)the achievement oflearning interestability of students who receivedthe Maple-Assisted Accelerated Learning is betterthan the achievement of students who receivedconventionallearning; (4)the enhancement oflearning interestof students who receivedthe Maple-Assisted Accelerated Learning is betterthan the enhancement of students who receivedconventionallearning; and(5) there is anassociation between students’ mathematical communication ability and learning interest of student

Exploring Model Quality in Enterprise Modeling - A Case Study

The popularity for enterprise modelling has increased rapidly over the last decades. This demand has created a need for analysing and evaluation enterprise models to determine their quality. Having the right set of qualities results in a model that is useful and bringing value to the organisation. Statoil is Norway's largest oil and gas company with over 20 000 employees spread all over the world. They have successfully implemented the use of enterprise models in marketing, midstream, and processing (MMP) to document what IT-systems they have and what functions they support. This architecture is now going to be implemented in other business areas, and therefore it is, necessary to uncover the quality of the model and discover room for improvements. SEQUAL, a framework for model evaluation quality has been used throughout the study. It is a flexible framework, where all the different aspects of the enterprise model are evaluated. The result of this study has revealed that the enterprise model has a high level of quality. It is a good representation of the enterprise and used for both communication and documentation. The modelling process is thorough and involves the end users from the start, resulting in semantic correct models that are understood by the users. There are however aspects of the model which are not perfect and have room for improvements