Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Optimal Proportion (optimal + proportion)
Selected AbstractsFermentation characteristics and microbial growth promoted by diets including two-phase olive cake in continuous fermentersJOURNAL OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY AND NUTRITION, Issue 1 2008A. Moumen Summary Two-phase olive cake (2POC) is the by-product obtained from the so called ,two-phase' procedure to extract olive oil by mechanical methods. After the mechanical extraction the 2POC is dried and most of the remaining oil extracted by chemical means. The production of the crude by-product may reach more than 4 millions t/year in Spain (MAPA, 2003), most of it in areas (Southeast) with shortage of pastures and conventional feeds for ruminants. Six continuous fermenters, inoculated with ruminal liquor from wethers or goats, were fed lucerne hay (LH); LH plus a concentrate including dried two-phase olive cake (LHCO) and; diet LHCO added with polyethylene glycol (LHCOP). The highest pH values and ammonia N (NH3 -N) output were found in fermenters fed diet LH (6.19 and 6.35 for pH, and 53.7 and 68.9 mg NH3N/day, respectively, in fermentes inoculated with rumen liquor from sheep and goats) without differences due to the inoculum origin. The digestibility of carbohydrates (CHO) was affected (p < 0.001) by inoculum (67.0 and 58.8%, respectively, for goats and wethers) the lowest values being for diet LHCO (53.2 and 57.0% with inoculum from wethers and goats, respectively). The main volatile fatty acid (VFA) was acetic acid with higher (p < 0.01) values in fermenters with inoculum from goats than from wethers (80.2 and 63.0 mmol/day respectively). The efficiency of bacterial protein synthesis (EBS) was not different (p > 0.05) with inoculum from wethers and goats [26.4 and 28.1 and 35.2 and 33.5 g bacterial N/kg digested CHO, respectively, obtained by using diamino pimelic acid (DAPA) and purine bases (PB) as microbial markers]. The lowest (p < 0.05) values were found in fermenters fed diets LHCOP and LH, estimated, respectively, from DAPA and PB (21.9 and 29.0 g bacterial N/kg digested CHO). The substitution of a part of lucerne hay by a concentrate including dried 2POC does not seem to cause important differences in efficiency of VFA production. Results concerning bacterial protein synthesis are not so clear since values estimated from DAPA and PB did not show similar trends. Neither inoculum origin nor PEG had important effects on fermentation characteristics. The DAPA could be an adequate marker in continuous fermenters, with comparative purposes, as protozoa are not present and, estimated protein synthesis values are similar to those obtained in vivo with similar diets using urinary excretion of PD (Yáñez Ruiz et al., 2004b). Further research is needed to state the optimal proportion of 2POC in practical diets for ruminants at both maintenance and production stages. [source] Doing and Being Well (for the Most Part): Adaptive Patterns of Narrative Self-Evaluation During BereavementJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2001Jack J. Bauer Narrative self-evaluation patterns were studied in relation to longitudinal measures of adaptation to the death of a spouse in midlife. Narrative self evaluations, identified in open-ended interview transcripts at 6 months post-loss, were coded as either positive or negative and as either doing-based (evaluations of "what one does") or being-based (evaluations of "what one is"). These narrative variables were then compared with separate, clinical-interview measures of grief at 6, 14, and 25 months post-loss. Results confirmed three predictions. First, participants who made an optimal proportion of positive to negative self-evaluations (approximately a 5:1 positive-to-negative ratio) had lower grief levels over time than did those who made either higher or lower proportions. Second, the tendency to focus on evaluations of what one does rather than what one is predicted lower grief levels over time. Third, participants who directly integrated doing-based and being-based self-evaluations had lower grief levels over time than those who did not link the two. Implications for the narrative construction of personal meaning and identity in relation to adaptation are discussed. [source] AN APPLICATION OF MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING INCORPORATING STOCHASTIC PRODUCTION FRONTIERS: A CASE STUDY OF ORGANIC COFFEE PRODUCTION IN KONA, HAWAIINATURAL RESOURCE MODELING, Issue 1 2010TADAYOSHI MASUDA Abstract In this paper, we develop a land use allocation model to search for the optimal ratio of organic (nonchemical) and conventional (chemical-use) farming acreage. The idea is to incorporate stochastic production frontiers (SPFs) to a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model as technological constraints. The objectives of this model are to maximize net returns, minimize chemical inputs, and optimize organic inputs given environmental and ecological concerns. The compromise solutions suggest the desirable ratio of organic and conventional farming acreage and targetable operations for each farming system to improve regional welfare. This method was applied to the Kona coffee belt, Hawaii, and the analysis determined the optimal proportion of organic and conventional Kona coffee farming fields as 0.265 to 0.735 in terms of optimizing community benefits or regional welfare. [source] Optimal Robust Two-Stage Designs for Genome-Wide Association StudiesANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 6 2009Thuy Trang Nguyen Summary Optimal robust two-stage designs for genome-wide association studies are proposed using the maximum of the recessive, additive and dominant linear trend test statistics. These designs combine cost-saving two-stage genotyping with robustness against misspecification of the genetic model and are much more efficient than designs based on a single model specific test statistic in detecting multiple loci with different modes of inheritance. For given power of 90%, typical cost savings of 34% can be realised by increasing the total sample size by about 13% but genotyping only about half of the sample for the full marker set in the first stage and carrying forward about 0.06% of the markers to the second stage analysis. We also present robust two-stage designs providing optimal allocation of a limited budget for pre-existing samples. If a sample is available which would yield a power of 90% when fully genotyped, genotyping only half of the sample due to a limited budget will typically cause a loss of power of more than 55%. Using an optimal two-stage approach in the same sample under the same budget restrictions will limit the loss of power to less than 10%. In general, the optimal proportion of markers to be followed up in the second stage strongly depends on the cost ratio for chips and individual genotyping, while the design parameters of the optimal designs (total sample size, first stage proportion, first and second stage significance limit) do not much depend on the genetic model assumptions. [source] Estimating the optimal external-beam radiotherapy utilization rate for genitourinary malignanciesCANCER, Issue 3 2005Geoff Delaney M.B.B.S. Abstract BACKGROUND Benchmark radiotherapy utilization rates for genitourinary malignancies are largely unknown, despite the finding that genitourinary cancers comprise approximately 19% of all registered malignancies in Australia. METHODS To develop an evidence-based benchmark of the optimal proportion of patients with genitourinary malignancies who should receive at least one course of radiotherapy at some time during their illness, the authors studied treatment guidelines and treatment reviews regarding genitourinary malignancies. Optimal radiotherapy utilization trees were constructed to show the clinical attributes that indicated possible benefit from radiotherapy based on evidence. Epidemiologic incidence data for each of these clinical attributes were obtained to calculate the optimal proportion of all patients with genitourinary cancer for whom radiotherapy was considered appropriate. RESULTS The proportion of patients with genitourinary malignancies for whom radiotherapy was indicated at some point in their illness, according to the best available evidence, was estimated to be 27% of patients with renal cancer, 58% of patients with bladder cancer, 60% of patients with prostate cancer, and 49% of patients with testicular cancer. The occurrence of ureteric and penile cancers among patients was too rare, and, therefore, these patients were not included in the current study. CONCLUSIONS There was a large discrepancy between actual radiotherapy utilization and the evidence-based optimal rate. The authors recommended strategies to implement the evidence-based guidelines. Evidence-based benchmarks for radiotherapy utilization rates such as the ones described in the current study were important in the evaluation of the appropriate use of radiotherapy. Cancer 2005. © 2004 American Cancer Society. [source] Host preference and performance of lichenivorous Eilema spp. larvae in relation to lichen secondary metabolitesJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2003Heikki Pöykkö Summary 1We compared the larval host preference of four lichenivorous Eilema (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae) species on four common epiphytic lichen species including Hypogymnia physodes, Melanelia exasperata, Vulpicida pinastri and Xanthoria parietina. Survival and growth of larvae on different species were monitored and correlation to qualitative and quantitative variation in lichen secondary compounds was analysed. 2All moth species preferred M. exasperata, which does not contain polyphenolic substances, over other lichens, but also foraged on other lichens in the food preference experiment. All larvae reared on V. pinastri and H. physodes died during the growth and survival experiment. Survival of larvae on X. parietina and M. exasperata were equal. Larvae grew faster and and bigger on M. exasperata than on other lichens. 3Consumption and utilization measurements also revealed that M. exasperata was of the highest quality, although the relative consumption rate was highest on X. parietina. Our results indicate that different secondary chemicals have different effect against lichenivores or that larvae are either well adapted to certain chemicals or that these chemicals may have other roles than antiherbivore function for lichens. 4It is suggested that lichenivorous lepidopteran species may have different adaptations, such as dietary mixing to receive nutrients in optimal proportions or compensatory feeding ability to ensure the maximal growth efficiency on a suboptimal host. [source] | ||||||||||