Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is a well-known experimental technique. It works by constructing a (surjective) mapping of pixel intensity from reference to target image, where the mapping parameters ...are identified using a Least Squares approach. Because it makes use of the luminance component of the image, Digital Image Correlation is usually implemented by assuming monochrome cameras. In this work, we will discuss its implementation when color cameras are used, focusing on pitfalls and potential advantages of this solution. Since most cameras implement color acquisition using a Color Filter Array (CFA), much of the article will focus on this technology. However, we will not limit ourselves to this aspect and will show that Three-CCD cameras can provide significant advantages over both CFA and monochrome cameras.
The Integrated Digital Image Correlation method (iDIC) is a simple and effective approach for residual stress measurement. iDIC differs from Digital Image Correlation because it replaces the ...“generic” displacement functions used to describe the displacement field around the measurement point with problem-specific ones. By this simple modification, stress components become the unknowns of the problem, thus allowing a single-pass analysis. Advantages are significant in terms of accuracy, robustness and ease of implementation. However, the implementation of the Integral Method for estimation of depth-dependent residual stress components is difficult. This work suggests two alternative approaches to solve this problem; in the former, the direct solution of the triangular linear system is employed to incrementally identify the stress distribution. In the latter, a global spatio-temporal minimization involving all the acquired images is suggested.
The aim of this review is to focus the attention on the nutrition ecology of the heavy metals and on the major criticisms related to the heavy metals content in animal feeds, manure, soil and ...animal-origin products. Heavy metals are metallic elements that have a high density that have progressively accumulated in the food chain with negative effects for human health. Some metals are essential (Fe, I, Co, Zn, Cu, Mn, Mo, Se) to maintain various physiological functions and are usually added as nutritional additives in animal feed. Other metals (As, Cd, F, Pb, Hg) have no established biological functions and are considered as contaminants/undesirable substances. The European Union adopted several measures in order to control their presence in the environment, as a result of human activities such as: farming, industry or food processing and storage contamination. The control of the animal input could be an effective strategy to reduce human health risks related to the consumption of animal-origin products and the environmental pollution by manure. Different management of raw materials and feed, animal species as well as different legal limits can influence the spread of heavy metals. To set up effective strategies against heavy metals the complex interrelationships in rural processes, the widely variability of farming practices, the soil and climatic conditions must be considered. Innovative and sustainable approaches have discussed for the heavy metal nutrition ecology to control the environmental pollution from livestock-related activities.
An experimental and numerical investigation of fatigue life and crack propagation in two-dimensional perforated aluminum structures is presented. Specifically, the performance of positive Poisson’s ...ratio (PPR) geometries using circular holes is compared to that of auxetic stop-hole and straight-groove hole geometries. Mechanical fatigue testing shows that the considered auxetic structures have more than 20% longer life than the porous PPR structure at the same porosity and peak effective maximum stress despite having holes with larger stress concentrations. Digital image correlation is used to detect crack initiation and damage propagation much earlier than can be detected by the unaided eye. Accompanying finite element analyses reveal that auxetic structures have the advantage over their PPR counterparts by delaying crack initiation, spreading damage over a larger area, and having a stress intensity factor that decreases over a significant range of crack lengths. In addition, numerical simulations suggest that auxetic structures maintain their negative Poisson’s ratios in the presence of cracks.
► Grassland biodiversity in Hungary is rather high; partly due to unhomogenised regions. ► Both extensive and more intensive grazing regimes supported high biodiversity on semi-natural grasslands. ► ...Relying only on species richness as a measure of change proved to be less effective than using assemblage composition. ► Multitaxon analysis is sensitive to detect effects of management. ► Multitaxon approach provides possibility to find indicator taxa.
Agricultural intensification is a major threat to biodiversity. Agri-environment schemes, the main tools to counteract negative impacts of agriculture on the environment, are having mixed effects on biodiversity. One reason for this may be the limited number of species (groups) covered by most studies. Here, we compared species richness and abundance of 10 different species groups on extensively (0.5 cattle/ha) and intensively (1.0–1.2 cattle/ha) grazed semi-natural pastures in 42 fields in three Hungarian regions. Plants, birds and arthropods (leafhoppers, true bugs, orthopterans, leaf-beetles, weevils, bees, carabids, spiders) were sampled. We recorded 347 plant species, 748 territories of 43 bird species, and 51,883 individuals of 808 arthropod species. Compared to West European farmlands, species richness was generally very high. Grazing intensity had minor effects on α and β diversity, abundance and composition of the species assemblages. Region had significant effects on species richness and abundance of four taxa, and had strong effects on β diversity and species composition of all taxa. Regional differences therefore contributed significantly to the high overall biodiversity. We conclude that both grazing regimes deliver significant biodiversity benefits. Agri-environmental policy at the EU level should promote the maintenance of large scale extensive farming systems. At the national level, the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes should be improved via promoting and using research evidence.
Agri-food waste (AFW) and by-products represent sources of phytochemicals, such as phenols and antioxidant compounds that can be used as functional ingredients in animal feed. In this study, a ...selection of AFW and by-products were collected and analysed for their nutrient composition. After chemical (with methanol) and physiological (in vitro digestion) extraction, total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity (AOC) were determined in AFW and by-product samples using Folin-Ciocalteu and 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline 6-sulfonic acid)-ABTS methods, respectively. Sample digestibility was also assessed using a multi-step enzymatic technique. After chemical extraction, grape marc showed the highest total phenolic content (4480.5 ± 886.58 mg TAE/100g; p < .05). Fruit and vegetable waste (FVW), orange peel, strawberry, citrus pulp and Camelina sativa cake showed a total phenolic content ranging from 238.0 ± 4.24 to 1583.0 ± 154.35 mg TAE/100g. Grape marc also showed the highest AOC (15440.7 ± 2671.85 mg TE/100g). In all other samples, AOC ranged from 43.3 ± 3.17 to 1703.9 ± 391.07 mg TE/100g. After physiological extraction, total phenolic content values higher than 3000 mg TAE/100g were observed in FVW, grape marc and orange peel. Grape marc, C. sativa cake and orange peel had AOC values of over 5000 mg TE/100g. The digestibility of AFW and by-products ranged from 44.20 to 97.16%. The lowest digestibility value was observed in grape marc (44.2 ± 2.31%). In conclusion, the results obtained in this study indicate that AFW and by-products could be a source of bioaccessible phenols and antioxidant molecules as ingredients for monogastric compound feeds.
Highlights
Agri-food waste and by-products can be reused in feed industry.
Agri-food waste and by-products are a source of valuable compounds as phenols and antioxidant molecules.
Abstract Metamaterials have been studied and analyzed in the past three decades because of their outstanding properties. Generally speaking, a metamaterial is a material that exhibits a mechanical ...behavior that does not depend only on the bulk material but also on the geometrical configuration in which it lies. This aspect leads to the possibility of tuning and engineering the structural response. One of the most interesting properties is the auxetic behavior of metamaterial. An auxetic material shows a global negative Poisson’s ratio. Shock absorption, acoustic dissipation, and shape morphing are some of the most popular employment for auxetic materials. In this article, we focus on the response of folded material under static and dynamic load conditions. Folded materials consist of folding a sheet under specific geometrical constraints. One of the most famous is the Miura-ori pattern, which comes from the origami-folding technique. The geometrical parameters, such as folding angles and edge lengths, play a fundamental role in achieving the desired auxetic behavior. These geometrical parameters define a unit cell that can be stacked into a periodic structure. This article proposes an experimental parametric study of the thickness impact on the auxetic behavior while edge dimensions and folding angles are fixed. The geometrical complexity of the pattern forced us to use additive manufacturing for the specimen fabrication. In particular, we choose Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) using polymers like ABS and PLA. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is used for monitoring the displacement and strain fields onto the Miura-ori surface under tensile load. Finally, Time Averaged Speckle Interferometry is employed for evaluating the modal response by using a quasi-full out-of-plane sensitivity setup.
•Hempseeds and hemp-based products are characterised by a high nutritional aspect.•Hemp-based products in lactating sows improved the health and performance of piglets.•The inclusion of 20 g/kg of ...hempseeds increased the growth performance of broilers.•The laying rate was unchanged or increased after treatment with hemp-based products.•Further studies are needed to find the best level of inclusion of hemp-based products.
Sustainable agriculture aims to produce food and feed that ensure food security and play a key role in environmental protection. For this, producers, supported by scientific research, are investigating new protein alternatives for animals that guarantee high performance and preserve their health. Among these, hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is gaining great success, both for its active role in environmental conservation and for the high nutritional profile of the seeds (20–30% carbohydrates, 25–30% proteins easy to digest and rich in essential amino acids, and 25–35% lipids with a balanced fatty acid composition), also ensured by the co-products, particularly seed cakes (30–34% proteins and 10–12% lipids). However, the last scientific report by the European Food Safety Authority for the use of hemp-based products in the feed sector now dates back to 2011. For this reason, the objective of this review, in addition to outlining the nutritional profile of hempseeds (HSs) and co-products, aims to investigate their use in the monogastric sector, particularly in the diets of pigs, broilers, and laying hens, by summarising the main works in the literature up to 2023, investigating the effects on animal health and performances. The reported results showed that the addition of 50 g/kg of HSs and HS oil improved the nutritional profile of milk and colostrum in lactating sows, particularly the lipid profile, positively affecting the health of piglets. For broilers, the inclusion of HSs (20 g/kg) resulted in better values on growth performance. This was not matched by the addition of HS oil (up to 60 g/kg). In particular, although a better polyunsaturated fatty acid profile was observed, the results on growth performance were contradictory. The same trend was observed for HSs cakes with 50, 150, and 200 g/kg inclusion. For laying hens, the inclusion of HSs (up to 250 g/kg), HS oil (up to 300 g/kg), and HSs cake (up to 150 g/kg) increased the nutritional and functional profile of the eggs, safeguarding performance and animal welfare. However, despite the promising results, the function of hemp-based products in the diet of monogastric animals needs to be further investigated to identify the optimal level of inclusion and timing of administration, necessary to ensure high performance and health of the animals.
Probiotics are friendly live microorganisms (in most cases, bacteria) that are similar to beneficial micro-organisms found in the human gut, whenever consumed, have potential to confer benefit to the ...health of consumers by maintaining, or improving their intestinal microbial flora and are available to consumers mainly in the form of dietary supplements and foods. All-time high interest in the field of probiotics is due to emerging probiotic industry. Probiotics are available in foods and dietary supplements, even as pharmaceutical formulations (capsules, tablets and powders) and in some other forms as well, but their claims of health benefits may challenge the traditional border between food and medicine. A number of probiotic products have been already introduced into the international market as food supplements, dietary supplements, natural health products, functional foods and many more other categories; as a result, the position of regulatory system for probiotics within existing categories become vague and quite unclear. Common terminology for probiotic products has become a necessity to achieve adequate regulatory control for discussion of probiotic-related issues among government, producers and consumers. The lack of a consistent terminology across the globe leads to legal uncertainty and confusion instead of being a direct obstacle for development of a mature market. This article will explain differences in regulatory categorizations across the globe; discuss the terms like food and drugs with a close relationship to probiotics, the problems associated with unsatisfactorily approached categorization as well as suggestive consolidations for the new categorization which will demarcate probiotics into categories explaining their nutritive claims, health claims or both.
The present paper deals with sequential designs intended to balance the allocations of two competing treatments in the presence of prognostic factors. After giving a theoretical framework on the ...optimality of balanced designs that can arise when covariates are taken into account, we propose a new family of covariate-adaptive randomized designs that represents higher order approximation to balance treatments, both globally and also across covariates. We derive the theoretical properties of the suggested designs in terms of loss of precision and predictability. The performance of this proposal is illustrated through a simulation study and compared with those of other procedures suggested in the literature.
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