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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of replacing antibiotics with increasing doses of chitosan (CHI) on nutrient intake and digestibility, corn grain excretion, ruminal fermentation, nitrogen metabolism, and feeding behavior in finishing steers fed forage-free diets. Five ruminally cannulated crossbred steers were assigned to a 5 x 5 Latin square experimental design and given the following diets: C0= basal diet with no additives, ANT= basal diet with inclusion of virginiamycin 30 mg/kg DM, C375= basal diet with inclusion of chitosan 375 mg/kg DM, C750= basal diet with inclusion of chitosan 750 mg/kg DM, and C1500= basal diet with inclusion of chitosan 1500 mg/kg DM. Supplementation with CHI did not affect ruminal pH and ammonia nitrogen (N-NH3) concentration. Chitosan quadratically affected corn grain excretion and molar proportion of ruminal butyrate, with greater values for C750. Animals fed C375 showed greater dry matter intake and neutral detergent fiber intake; and greater digestibility of DM, starch, and NDF. Animals fed C750 and C1500 diets presented greater absorbed N compared to ANT. Animals fed ANT, C750, and C1500 spent more time eating and chewing than animals fed CON. More specifically, the dose of 375 mg/kg DM of diet was very promising for steers fed free-forage diet due to its ability to improve nutrient digestibility, with only slight changes in N metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nested orthogonal arrays (NOAs) provide an option for designing an experimental setup consisting of two experiments, with the expensive higher‐precision experiment nested within a larger and relatively inexpensive lower‐precision experiment. Construction of NOAs with the adjacent numbers of levels is a challenging problem. In this paper, we present several methods for constructing such NOAs and obtain some classes of such new symmetric NOAs in which the larger arrays have minimum run size. These methods are also extended to construction of NOAs with more than two layers. Furthermore, by adding some columns to these symmetric NOAs, we can construct a lot of new asymmetric NOAs. Illustrative examples are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that Mermin–Peres-like proofs of quantum contextuality can furnish non-local games with a guaranteed quantum strategy, when classically no such guarantee can exist. This phenomenon, also called quantum pseudo-telepathy, has been studied in the case of the so-called Mermin magic square game. In this paper, we review in detail two different ways of implementing on a quantum computer such a game and propose a new Doily game based on the geometry of 2-qubit Pauli group. We show that the quantumness of these games is almost revealed when we play them on the IBM Quantum Experience; however, the inherent noise in the available quantum machines prevents a full demonstration of the non-classical aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Completing partial latin squares is NP-complete. Motivated by Ryser's theorem for latin rectangles, in 1974, Cruse found conditions that ensure a partial symmetric latin square of order m can be embedded in a symmetric latin square of order n. Loosely speaking, this results asserts that an n-coloring of the edges of the complete m-vertex graph K_m can be embedded in a one-factorization of K_n if and only if n is even and the number of edges of each color is at least m-n/2. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions under which an edge-coloring of the complete \lambda-fold m-vertex 3-graph \lambda K_m^3 can be embedded in a one-factorization of \lambda K_n^3. In particular, we prove the first known Ryser type theorem for hypergraphs by showing that if n\equiv 0\ (\mathrm {mod}\ 3), any edge-coloring of \lambda K_m^3 where the number of triples of each color is at least m/2-n/6, can be embedded in a one-factorization of \lambda K_n^3. Finally we prove an Evans type result by showing that if n\equiv 0\ (\mathrm {mod}\ 3) and n\geq 3m, then any q-coloring of the edges of any F\subseteq \lambda K_m^3 can be embedded in a one-factorization of \lambda K_n^3 as long as q\leq \lambda \binom {n-1}{2}-\lambda \binom {m}{3}/\left \lfloor m/3\right \rfloor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The natural behaviour of horses is to spend the majority of their time foraging. The feed intake time of stabled horses is often far from that, since their feed intake is limited to their nutritional requirements in order to avoid overfeeding and obesity. To approach their natural foraging time, it is important to find methods which can extend the feed intake time for stabled horses. The aim of this study was to estimate if different feeding methods could extend horses' feed intake times. We measured how long it took for four Icelandic horses to eat 7 kg of high-energy haylage (3.5 kg/meal), from a haynet, hayball, manger, and straight from the box floor, for one day per method. To record the horses' feed intake time, a video surveillance system was applied using two cameras. All horses stayed healthy throughout the study and ate all feed that was offered. From this study, it can be concluded that feeding high-energy haylage in a hayball or in a haynet can increase the feed intake time of maintenance-fed horses by 13% per day, as compared to more traditional methods. Thus, with simple feeding methods, it is possible to extend the feed intake time of stabled horses, thereby closer resembling horses' natural foraging time. The natural behaviour of horses is to spend the majority of their time on feed intake The feeding of stabled horses is, however, often far from that, as their feed intake is limited to their nutritional requirements. In order to approach their natural foraging time, it is important to extend the feed intake time of stabled horses. The aim of this study was to estimate if the feed intake time differs when feeding haylage in a haynet, hayball, metal corner manger, or from the box floor. The experimental design consisted of a Latin square, occurred across four days with four adult Icelandic horses and four treatments. Horses were stabled in individual boxes and fed 7 kg of high-energy haylage in two even meals while the intake time was recorded. The feed intake time per kg DM was shorter from the manger or the box floor than from a haynet or hayball (81 or 85 min versus 94 or 96 min; p < 0.05). It can be concluded that feeding haylage in a hayball or in a haynet can increase the feed intake time by 13% per day (12 min/kg DM/day) when compared to the more traditional methods. Thus, with simple alternatives, it is possible to extend the feed intake time of stabled horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The foliage of the tree Brosimum alicastrum is widely employed by small farmers in Latin America to supplement cattle, sheep and goats during the dry season. Foliage is manually cut, and the branches are chopped and fed directly, being highly palatable to ruminant species. The foliage remains green throughout the year, and the tree can be defoliated twice per year. Cattle can also directly browse the foliage from the tree, but it is mostly used in cut and carry systems and transported in carts to farms. The experiment hereby described showed that the crude protein fraction of the foliage of B. alicastrum is highly fermentable in the rumen, supplying nitrogen for growth of the microbial population. As the percent of foliage of B. alicastrum in the ration was increased, dry matter intake by sheep was concomitantly increased, as was the rate of the passage of digesta through the rumen and the supply of microbial nitrogen to the small intestine. The foliage of B. alicastrum is a valuable feedstuff for ruminants in the tropics and can be used as a cheap source of protein during the critical periods of the year to improve weight gain and milk yield in a sustainable way. An experiment was carried out to assess the effect of the incorporation of sun-dried foliage of Brosimum alicastrum into rations based on hay of Megathyrsus maximus on intake, rumen fermentation, kinetics of passage, microbial nitrogen supply to the small intestine, apparent digestibility in Pelibuey hair sheep. Four rations were randomly allotted to four rumen-cannulated lambs (BW = 37.4 ± 4.9 kg) using a 4 × 4 Latin square design to assess the effect of increasing levels (0, 15, 30 and 45% DM basis) of foliage of Brosimum alicastrum on a basal ration of M. maximus. Organic matter intake and water consumption increased linearly (p < 0.01) with increasing levels of B. alicastrum in the ration. The rate and potential extent of rumen fermentation of OM and CP of B. alicastrum were 10.6%/h and 86.6% and 11.4%/h and 95.2%, respectively, but no effect (p > 0.05) was found on the potential rumen degradation of DM (40.2%) or on the rate of degradation of DM (0.033%/h) of M. maximus, although a positive effect was found in the rumen degradation rate of NDF (p < 0.05). VFA and ammonia concentration in the rumen and the rate of passage of solids and liquids through the rumen (k1) increased linearly (p < 0.01) with increasing levels of B. alicastrum. Rumen pH was not affected by the incorporation of B. alicastrum (p > 0.05). Microbial nitrogen supply to the small intestine (p < 0.001), apparent digestibility of dry matter (p < 0.01) and NDF (p < 0.05) of the rations were also significantly increased as a result of the incorporation of B. alicastrum foliage. Results from this experiment suggest that the foliage of Brosimum alicastrum can be readily incorporated at around 30% of the ration of dry matter in hair sheep with beneficial effects on feed intake, rate of passage and microbial N supply to the lower tract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reduction of the particle size of corn increases energy digestibility and concentrations of digestible and metabolizable energy. Pelleting may also reduce particle size of grain, but it is not known if there are interactions between particle size reduction and pelleting. The objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that particle size reduction and pelleting, separately or in combination, increase N balance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of fiber and fat, and net energy (NE) in corn-soybean meal diets fed to group-housed pigs. Methods: Six corn-soybean meal-based diets were used in a 3 × 2 factorial design with 3 particle sizes of corn (i.e., 700, 500, or 300 μm) and 2 diet forms (i.e., meal or pelleted). Pigs were allowed ad libitum access to feed and water. Twenty-four castrated male pigs (initial weight: 29.52 kg; standard diviation: 1.40) were allotted to the 6 diets using a 6 × 6 Latin square design with 6 calorimeter chambers (i.e., 4 pigs/chamber) and 6 periods. Oxygen consumption and CO2 and CH4 productions were measured during fed and fasting states and fecal and urine samples were collected. Results: Regardless of particle size of corn, the ATTD of gross energy (GE), N, and acid-hydrolyzed ether extract (AEE), and the concentration of NE were greater (P < 0.05) in pelleted diets than in meal diets. Regardless of diet form, the ATTD of GE, N, and AEE, and the concentration of NE were increased (linear; P < 0.05) by reducing the particle size of corn, but the increase was greater in meal diets than in pelleted diets (interaction; P < 0.05). Conclusions: Both pelleting and reduction of corn particle size increased nutrient digestibility and NE, but increases were greater in meal diets than in pelleted diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the problem of extending and avoiding partial edge colorings of trees; that is, given a partial edge coloring ϕ of a tree T we are interested in whether there is a proper Δ (T)-edge coloring of T that agrees with the coloring ϕ on every edge that is colored under ϕ; or, similarly, if there is a proper Δ (T)-edge coloring that disagrees with ϕ on every edge that is colored under '. We characterize which partial edge colorings with at most Δ (T) + 1 precolored edges in a tree T are extendable, thereby proving an analogue of a result by Andersen for Latin squares. Furthermore we obtain some\mixed" results on extending a partial edge coloring subject to the condition that the extension should avoid a given partial edge coloring; in particular, for all 0 ≤ k ≤ Δ (T), we characterize for which configurations consisting of a partial coloring ϕ of Δ (T)-k edges and a partial coloring ψ of k + 1 edges of a tree T, there is an extension of ϕ that avoids ψ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: The use of combinations of α2‐adrenergic agonists and opioids has been published as providing superior sedation than either drug alone. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the sedative and physiological effects of intravenous (IV) administration of dexmedetomidine alone and in combination with methadone, morphine, tramadol or pethidine in miniature donkeys. Study design: Experimental, crossover Latin square, randomised, blinded study. Methods: Twelve clinically healthy miniature donkeys with a mean age of 6 ± 2 (mean ± SD) years, weight of 94 ± 5 kg and height at withers of 0.80 ± 0.06 m were assigned to six IV treatments. They received either 0.9% saline, 5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine, 5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine and 0.2 mg/kg methadone, 5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine and 0.1 mg/kg morphine, 5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine and 2 mg/kg tramadol or 5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine and 1 mg/kg pethidine, with a washout period of 8 days. The degree of sedation was investigated using a numerical ranking scale of 0–3. Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), rectal temperature (RT) and intestinal motility were performed before and 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 120 min after drug administration. Results: Animals in dexmedetomidine or dexmedetomidine/opioid treatments were sedated for 5–60 min. Sedation was significantly higher in dexmedetomidine/opioid treatments than in dexmedetomidine at 15–30 min (p < 0.05). In all treatments, HR and RR significantly decreased from baseline at 5–75 and 30–60 min, respectively (p < 0.05). Intestinal motility was decreased in dexmedetomidine and dexmedetomidine/opioid treatments at 5–60 and 5–90 min, respectively. Compared to dexmedetomidine, intestinal motility was significantly lower in dexmedetomidine/opioid treatments at 75–90 min. Main limitations: Assessment of only HR and RR are inadequate to describe the cardiorespiratory effects of dexmedetomidine/opioids. Conclusions: The use of combinations of dexmedetomidine/opioids would be considered for superior sedation for 15–30 min after administration in miniature donkeys. No significant differences were detected between opioids in combination with dexmedetomidine in miniature donkeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The weight of a partition is the sum of its nonzero coordinates. Let R and S be partitions of the same weight and $ {\mathcal {A}}(R,S) $ A (R , S) be the class of all $ (0,1) $ (0 , 1) -matrices with row sums R and column sums S. For a positive integer t, the t-term rank of a matrix $ A\in {\mathcal {A}}(R,S) $ A ∈ A (R , S) , denoted $ \rho _t(A) $ ρ t (A) , is defined as the largest number of 1's in A with at most one 1 in each column and at most t 1's in each row. The term rank partition of A is the partition $$\begin{align*} term\ \rho(A) & :=(\rho_1(A)-\rho_0(A),\rho_2(A) \\ & \quad - \rho_1(A),\ldots ,\rho_t(A)-\rho_{t-1}(A),\ldots), \end{align*} $$ term ρ (A) := (ρ 1 (A) − ρ 0 (A) , ρ 2 (A) − ρ 1 (A) , ... , ρ t (A) − ρ t − 1 (A) , ...) , where $ \rho _0(A)=0 $ ρ 0 (A) = 0. Let θ be a partition of weight equal to the number of nonzero coordinates of S. In this paper, we study conditions for the existence of a matrix $ C\in {\mathcal {A}}(R,S) $ C ∈ A (R , S) with $ term\ \rho (C)=\theta. $ term ρ (C) = θ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manuscript tradition of pre-modern texts poses a specific problem for scholars in the field of Digital Humanities: before printing made the production of standardized editions of texts feasible, copying texts by hand (and often by different people) was inherently an error-prone process, which not only led to differences in wording but also in spelling—across multiple transmitted variants. This applies especially to ancient texts, where the temporal distances to the archetypes tend to be fairly large. In computerized research, especially in the case of text matching within the field of citation research and text mining, these differences in wording and spelling—however small they might be—may prevent a successful matching of texts. This case study presents a solution for the problem of textual differences arising from (non-)assimilated prefixes in Latin, a feature where modern editions mostly differ from author to author, but sometimes even between two editions of the same text. With regard to the letters of the church father Jerome as well as Virgil's Eclogues , Georgics , and Aeneid , two approaches are compared in terms of error rate and efficiency for a given set of prefixes: (1) performing and (2) reversing corpus-wide assimilation. Moreover, the broader implications of the (in-)accessibility of text-critical data in digital editions are discussed. Finally, general desiderata regarding text-critical data for computerized research on classical texts are elaborated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-farm experiments are increasingly being used as their costs have decreased with technological advances in collecting, storing, and processing geospatial data. A question that has not been well addressed is what spatial experimental design is best for on-farm experiments when the goal is to estimate a spatially varying coefficients (SVC) model. The focus here is determining the optimal location of treatments to obtain a nearly D-optimal experimental design when estimating a linear plateau model. A pseudo-Bayesian approach is taken here because the field's site-specific optimal nitrogen value is unknown. Optimal designs are generated, assuming a fixed number of replications for each treatment level. The resulting designs are more efficient than classic Latin square, strip plot, and completely randomized designs. The method consistently produces designs that have 95% efficiency or higher. Random designs had efficiencies varying from 41 to 64% with Latin squares having higher efficiencies and strip plots lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a sequence g:g0,...,gm ${\bf{g}}:{g}_{0},{\rm{\ldots }},{g}_{m}$ in a finite group G $G$ with g0=1G ${g}_{0}={1}_{G}$, let g¯:g¯0,...,g¯m $\bar{{\bf{g}}}:{\bar{g}}_{0},{\rm{\ldots }},{\bar{g}}_{m}$ be the sequence of consecutive quotients of g ${\bf{g}}$ defined by g¯0=1G ${\bar{g}}_{0}={1}_{G}$ and g¯i=gi−1−1gi ${\bar{g}}_{i}={g}_{i-1}^{-1}{g}_{i}$ for 1≤i≤m $1\le i\le m$. We say that G $G$ is doubly sequenceable if there exists a sequence g ${\bf{g}}$ in G $G$ such that every element of G $G$ appears exactly twice in each of g ${\bf{g}}$ and g¯ $\bar{{\bf{g}}}$. We show that if a group is abelian, odd, sequenceable, R‐sequenceable, or terraceable, then it is doubly sequenceable. We also show that if H $H$ is an odd or sequenceable group and K $K$ is an abelian group, then H×K $H\times K$ is doubly sequenceable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Methane emitted by ruminant livestock contributes to climate change and represents a considerable waste of energy. Several methane measurement devices have been developed to measure ruminal methane emission. The GreenFeed system (GFS) was introduced as a static short-term measurement device to quantify methane emission by groups of animals in pen or pasture settings. Currently, protocols are available for measuring methane emission by cattle using GFS, but none are available for goats. This study, therefore, was conducted to determine appropriate numbers (3, 4 and 6 times/day) and times of daily measurements to estimate methane emission by goats with the GFS. Also, methane emission determined with a calorimetry system (CS) was compared with that quantified with GFS. The frequency of daily measurements did not affect methane emission estimates with the GFS system, but methane emission with the GFS was much higher than with the CS. The relationship between CS and GFS, which entailed four- and six-times daily measurements, was stronger. The study suggests a protocol involving at least four daily measurements may be useful to detect treatment differences or animal ranking for methane emission. However, using the GFS for goats under the present conditions estimated higher methane emissions compared with the CS, and thus it requires modifications to improve methane-emission estimates. The study was conducted to determine appropriate numbers and times of daily gas measurements to estimate total daily methane (CH4) emission of meat goats using a GreenFeed system (GFS). A replicated 4 (four measurement protocols) × 4 (four periods) Latin square design was employed with 16 Boer wethers in a confinement pen setting. Measurement protocols entailed three (G-3T; 0600–0700, 1400–1500, and 2200–2300 h), four (G-4T; 0700–0800, 1300–1400, 1900–2000, and 0100–0200 h), and six (G-6T; 0800–0900, 1200–1300, 1600–1700, 2000–2100, 0000–0100, and 0400–0500 h) times for daily measurement periods in GFS. The fourth protocol was continuous measurement over 24 h with animals in an open-circuit respiration calorimetry system (CS). Oat hay was given in individual feeders, and a small predetermined quantity of a pelleted concentrate supplement (bait) was dispensed by the GFS or manually offered for the CS. Overall, total dry matter (DM) intake (614, 625, 635, and 577 g/day for CS, G-3T, G-4T, and G-6T, respectively; SEM = 13.9) and digestible DM intake (359, 368, 374, and 320 CS, G-3T, G-4T, and G-6T, respectively; SEM = 15.9) were lower for CS than for G-3T, G-4T, and G-6T (p < 0.05), but these variables were not different among the GFS protocols. There was a significant (p < 0.001) effect of measurement protocol on CH4 emission in g/day (11.1, 25.6, 27.3, and 26.7 for CS, G-3T, G-4T, and G-6T, respectively; SEM = 1.11), g/kg DM intake (19.3, 46.4, 43.9, and 42.4 for CS, G-3T, G-4T, and G-6T, respectively; SEM = 2.03), and g/kg body weight (0.49, 1.11, 1.18, and 1.16 for CS, G-3T, G-4T, and G-6T, respectively; SEM = 0.052), with values being much lower for CS than for G-3T, G-4T and G-6T. Conversely, CH4 emission was similar among the GFS protocols despite differences in the time and number of daily visits (2.03, 2.76, and 3.75 visits for G-3T, G-4T, and G-6T, respectively; SEM = 0.114; p < 0.001). Pearson correlation (r) analysis indicated a moderate to high (p < 0.05) correlation between CS and G-3T (r = 0.62 for CH4 in g/day and r = 0.59 for CH4 in g/kg BW), CS and G-4T (r = 0.67 for CH4 in g/day and r = 0.76 for CH4 in g/kg BW), and CS and G-6T (r = 0.70 for CH4 in g/day and r = 0.75 for CH4 in g/kg BW). However, the correlation coefficient for CH4 in g/kg DM intake was low between CS and G-3T (r = 0.11) and CS and G-6T (r = 0.31) but slightly greater between CS and G-4T (r = 0.47). In conclusion, the results suggest that CH4 emissions using GFS in a confinement setting were greater compared with the CS in goats, but CH4-emission estimation using the GFS correlated with the CH4 emission in the CS system with a stronger relationship for the four times of daily measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this metabolism study was to evaluate the efficacy of Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) meal in pelleted diets for fattened cattle. Four 2-year-old Bali steers were assigned to four dietary treatments using a 4x4 Latin square experimental design. The treatments were pellets containing chromolaena meal at 10% (10COM), 20% (20COM), 30% (30COM), or 40% (40COM). The pellet was given at 2% liveweight (LW), and kume (Sorghum plumosum var. Timorense) grass hay was offered ad libitum. The diets were isonitrogenous (20%) and energy (11.5 MJ ME/kg DM). Dietary intake, digestibility, and rumen fermentation were the variables measured. The results showed that increasing chromolaena meal to 40% substantially decreased the nutrient intake. Dry matter intake decreased from 2.5% LW in the 10COM to 2.19% LW in the 40COM. Likewise, crude protein intake decreased from 749 g/d (10COM) to 661 g/d (40COM). On the contrary, digestibility, rumen pH, ammonia concentration (116-125 mg/dL), and volatile fatty acids were not affected. It might be concluded that chromolaena can be used as a protein source for ruminants, but at high levels of inclusion (40%) tends to reduce intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementing Pueraria phaseoloides on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation, and blood profiles in male Kacang goats fed Kume grass hay as a basal diet. Twelve male Kacang goats aged between 6 and 8 months with a mean body weight of 13.63 ± 1.40 kg were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments (three goats per treatment) in a 3x4 incomplete Latin square design. The treatments consist of a control group (P0) receiving grass hay and concentrate and three groups supplemented with 10% (P10), 20% (P20), and 30% (P30) P. phaseoloides of protein requirement on a dry matter basis. The data obtained in this study were statistically analyzed using the GLM procedure following ANOVA in SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 22. The results indicated that P. phaseoloides significantly (p<0.05) increased feed intake, with goats receiving P. phaseoloides consuming more dry matter compared to the control group (P0). Furthermore, nutrient digestibility improved (p<0.05) with P. phaseoloides supplementation. However, rumen fermentation characteristics, including NH3-N concentration, VFA concentration, and ruminal pH, did not differ significantly among the dietary treatments. Additionally, there were no significant differences in blood profiles among the Kacang goats under different dietary treatments. In conclusion, supplementation of P. phaseoloides in male Kacang goats fed Kume grass hay as a basal diet improved feed intake and nutrient digestibility but had no significant effect on rumen fermentation or blood profiles. Therefore, P. phaseoloides can be used as a feed supplement for ruminants consuming low-quality grass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a chaotic image encryption scheme using an efficient pseudo-random number generator (PRNG). The proposed PRNG can produce 1024 pseudo-random numbers by reusing 64 items of the time series of the chaotic system. Compared with the direct quantization method, the efficiency of our PRNG is improved by about 79 % due to a 16-fold reduction in the total number of iterations of the chaotic system. By using the proposed PRNG, we present an efficient chaotic image encryption scheme. Unlike most other existing approaches that use independent permutation and diffusion operations, we combine these two operations into a single stage. In our scheme, row-wise and column-wise permutation operations are performed by utilizing two different Latin squares, and the diffusion operation is performed simultaneously. As the two steps of permutation and diffusion interact with each other, our suggested scheme can achieve the satisfactory security level with only one round of encryption. Compared with the AES algorithm, the encryption efficiency of our scheme is improved by more than 60 % on both grayscale and color images. Moreover, we also demonstrate the encryption efficiency of our scheme by comparing it with several state-of-the-art algorithms. The detailed security analysis shows that our suggested scheme is robust against all common attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the approaches published in the literature to construct S-boxes via Cellular Automata (CA) work by either iterating a finite CA for several time steps, or by a one-shot application of the global rule. The main characteristic that brings together these works is that they employ a single CA rule to define the vectorial Boolean function of the S-box. In this work, we explore a different direction for the design of S-boxes that leverages on Orthogonal CA (OCA), i.e. pairs of CA rules giving rise to orthogonal Latin squares. The motivation stands on the facts that an OCA pair already defines a bijective transformation, and moreover the orthogonality property of the resulting Latin squares ensures a minimum amount of diffusion. We exhaustively enumerate all S-boxes generated by OCA pairs of diameter 4 ≤ d ≤ 6 , and measure their nonlinearity. Interestingly, we observe that for d = 4 and d = 5 all S-boxes are linear, despite the underlying CA local rules being nonlinear. The smallest nonlinear S-boxes emerges for d = 6 , but their nonlinearity is still too low to be used in practice. Nonetheless, we unearth an interesting structure of linear OCA S-boxes, proving that their Linear Components Space is itself the image of a linear CA, or equivalently a polynomial code. We finally classify all linear OCA S-boxes in terms of their generator polynomials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated four different formulations of itraconazole and amiodarone. Formulation 1 was Vida's combination tablet containing both active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Formulation 2 was separate, commercially available human generic capsules and tablets of itraconazole and amiodarone, respectively. Formulation 3 was separate, compounded suspensions of itraconazole and amiodarone. Formulation 4 was a compounded chewable tablet of itraconazole. Eight female dogs were dosed with 5 mg/kg of itraconazole and 15 mg/kg amiodarone (except for formulation 4, which only received 5 mg/kg itraconazole) once weekly for 4 weeks using a modified Latin Square design, ensuring that all dogs received all formulations with a 7‐day washout between treatments. Animals were fasted overnight prior to each dose administration, with food returned to all animals 4 h post‐dose. Blood samples (3 mL) were collected pre‐treatment (0) and at appropriate time points over 72 h after each dose for a total of 14 samples per dog per treatment. There was high variability in the serum concentration data within treatment groups for itraconazole. The compounded suspensions were difficult to dose due to the nature of the formulations. The volumes dosed were accurate and consistent, but the suspension was thin and settled immediately when shaking was stopped for both itraconazole and amiodarone. All serum samples following itraconazole chewable tablet administration were not detectable or just above itraconazole's LOQ and thus did not allow for pharmacokinetic determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chromatic index , χ ′ (G) , is the smallest integer k for which a graph G has a proper edge coloring. The Classification Problem involves determining whether a graph G is Class 1 ( χ ′ (G) = Δ (G)) or Class 2 ( χ ′ (G) = Δ (G) + 1). It is known that subgraph-overfull graphs must be Class 2. In this paper we are concerned with the Classification Problem for split graphs G [ Q ∪ S ] where Q is a clique and S is an independent set. When Δ (G) is odd, G is known to be Class 1. The original proof presented by Chen et al. (1995) has a minor flaw which we detail in this paper while also clarifying that it does not compromise their result. We prove that their technique can be adapted in a non-trivial way to show that some split graphs with even Δ (G) are also Class 1. We show that to solve the Classification Problem for split graphs it suffices to consider that all vertices in Q have degree Δ (G). Considering the subset X of S of the vertices of degree at most Δ (G) / 2 , we show that if the neighborhood of X has at least ⌊ | Q | / 2 ⌋ vertices, then G is Class 1; in the remaining cases we characterize the subgraph-overfull split graphs. • Correction of a flaw in the proof that odd maximum degree split graphs are Class 1. • Proof that certain split graphs with even maximum degree are Class 1. • Characterization of the split graphs which are subgraph-overfull, and thus Class 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Leg length discrepancy (LLD), regardless of its origin, is a very common pathology that can contribute to low back pain. Various authors have pointed out its relationship with the lack of activation of both the gluteus medius (GM) and the ipsilateral erector spinae (ES). The purpose of this study was to identify the activation of the ES and GM with different simulated LLDs, correlating this activation with LBP. In turn, we evaluated whether ES and GM activity has an effect on jumping ability using a CMJ test. (2) Method: A sample of healthy subjects was selected to whom an artificial LLD was applied using 0.5, 1, and 1.5 cm insoles. These three heights were measured using EMG while the subjects walked and performed a counter movement jump (CMJ). The measurements of the insole heights were carried out in random order using a Latin square. Muscle activation patterns were recorded for 30 s at each of the insole heights while the patients walked at 5.7 km/h and they were compared with the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), both on the ipsilateral and contralateral sides. These muscles were then measured under the same circumstances during the performance of the CMJ. (3) Results: We found statistically significant differences in the flight heights in both the CMJ and DJ. In the comparison, significant differences were found in the flight heights of the CMJ and the DJ using the 5 mm insoles, and in the case of the DJ, also without insoles, with respect to the MVC. We found statistically significant differences in the activation of the GM with the differences in insoles, but not in the activation of the Es in relation to the different insole heights. (4) Conclusions: Insoles of different heights caused activation differences in the medius on the side where the insoles were placed. We can relate this difference in activation to LBP. In relation to the ES, no significant differences were found in the activation of the ipsilateral side of the insole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider designs with t treatments, the ith level of which has ni observations. Four cases are examined: treatment levels both ordered and not, and the design balanced, with all ni equal, and not. A general construction is given that takes observations, typically treatment sums or treatment rank sums, constructs a simple quadratic form and expresses it as a sum of squares of orthogonal contrasts. For the case of ordered treatment levels, the Kruskal–Wallis, Friedman and Durbin tests are recovered by this construction. A dataset where the design is the supplemented balanced, which is an unbalanced design in our terminology, is analyzed. When treatment levels are not ordered the construction also applies. We then focus on Helmert contrasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Order‐of‐addition (OofA) experiments have gained renewed attention in recent years, especially in regard to their design. For these experiments, the response is determined by the order in which components are added. A particularly useful design introduced in OofA experiments is the component orthogonal array (COA). The COA maintains pairwise balance between any two components while also ensuring each component appears equally often in each position. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm for constructing COAs which can be naturally split into blocks of Latin squares. These blocks can be run sequentially in a systematic order, potentially requiring fewer runs to identify optimal orderings, while also preserving good properties should the overall design be needed. We also show how to extend this construction method to create designs for any number of components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we compared two approaches: one is Griffing approach for numerical components and other is Hyman's approach for graphical representation of the components through the mating design of Complete Diallel Cross design for p=5 parental lines. Griffing (1956) approach was a numerical approach based on the estimates of combining ability effects. Here use his fourth method. Hayman (1954) approach also have four components namely (i) complete, (ii) partial, (iii) over-dominance and (iv) no dominance. Hayman's approach based on the estimation of parts of variation. We use three mutually orthogonal Latin squares design of order 5 for the construction of mating designs. ANOVA and estimates of combining ability derived and analyzed. We demonstrate the numerical accuracy of the proposed design Griffing method I and Hayman's method by using Turnip data of 5x5 crosses of plant height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study was conducted to assess effects of heat stress on growth performance, physiological parameters, and blood profiles of Hanwoo steers during early-fattening period in climate chambers. Methods: Four Hanwoo steers (body weight, 454.3±10.9 kg; age, 14±0.1 month) were allocated into four levels of temperature-humidity index (THI) in a 4×4 Latin square design for 21 days (pre-adaptation, 7 d; heat stress, 7 d; post-adaptation, 7 d) per period. Experimental treatments were assigned according to THI chart based on National Institute Animal Science (NIAS, 2022): Comfort (25.5°C to 26.5°C, 60%; THI 73 to 75), Mild (28°C to 29°C, 60%; THI 77 to 79), Moderate (29.5°C to 30.5°C, 80%; THI 82 to 84), and Severe (31°C to 32°C, 80%; THI 85 to 86) in separate climatic controlled chambers. Results: The dry matter intake (DMI) of the formula feed was lower in Severe compared to Mild and Comfort (p<0.05). The DMI of rice straw was the lowest in Severe and lower in Moderate than Comfort and Mild (p<0.05). Both average daily gain and feed conversion ratio of Severe and Moderate were lower than those of Mild and Comfort (p<0.05). Water intake was the highest in Severe and lower in Moderate compared with Comfort and Mild (p<0.05). Heart rate and rectal temperature increased as THI level increased (p<0.05). Glucose was the lowest in Severe and lower in Moderate compared to Comfort (p<0.05). On the contrary, non-esterified fatty acid was the highest in Severe and lower in Moderate compared with Comfort (p<0.05). Blood urea nitrogen of Moderate and Severe were higher than those of Comfort and Mild (p<0.05). Cortisol increased as THI increased (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the negative effects of heat stress on the performance and physiological responses of Hanwoo steers during the early-fattening period. In addition, it is judged that the THI chart for Hanwoo steers of National Institute of Animal Science (2022) was properly calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nontrivial unital composition superalgebras, of dimension 3 and 6, which exist only in characteristic 3, are obtained from the split Cayley algebra and its order 3 automorphisms, by means of the process of semisimplification of the symmetric tensor category of representations of the cyclic group of order 3. Connections with the extended Freudenthal magic square in characteristic 3, that contains some exceptional Lie superalgebras specific of this characteristic are discussed too. In the process, precise recipes to go from (nonassociative) algebras in this tensor category to the corresponding superalgebras are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of individual and combined use of dietary fat, nitrate, and 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) on dairy cows' enteric methane (CH 4) emission and production performance. Twenty-four primiparous and 24 multiparous Danish Holstein cows (111 ± 44.6 d in milk; mean ± standard deviation) were included in an incomplete 8 × 8 Latin square design with six 21-d periods. Dietary treatments were organized in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement aiming for 2 levels of FAT (30 or 63 g of crude fat/kg of dry matter [DM]; LF or HF, respectively), 2 levels of NITRATE (0 or 10 g of nitrate/kg of DM; UREA or NIT, respectively), and 2 levels of 3-NOP (0 or 80 mg/kg DM; BLANK or NOP, respectively). Treatments were included in ad libitum-fed partial mixed rations in bins that automatically measured feed intake and eating behavior. Additional concentrate was offered as bait in GreenFeed units used for measurement of gas emission. For total DM intake (DMI), a FAT × NITRATE interaction showed that DMI, across parities and levels of 3-NOP, was unaffected by separate fat supplementation, but reduced by nitrate with 4.6% and synergistically decreased (significant 2-way interaction) with 13.0% when fat and nitrate were combined. Additionally, 3-NOP decreased DMI by 13.4% and the combination of 3-NOP with fat and nitrate decreased DMI in an additive way (no significant 3-way interaction). The decreasing effects on DMI were more pronounced in multiparous cows than in primiparous cows. For treatments with largest reductions in DMI, eating behavior was altered toward more frequent, but smaller meals, a slower eating rate and increased attempts to visit unassigned feed bins. Energy-corrected milk (ECM) yield increased by 6.3% with fat supplementation, whereas ECM yield did not differ among diets including nitrate (FAT × NITRATE interaction). Cows supplemented with 3-NOP had 9.0% lower ECM yield than cows fed no 3-NOP. Based on three 2-way interactions including FAT, NITRATE, and 3-NOP, the combined use of the additives resulted in antagonistic effects on CH 4 reduction. A 6% to 7% reduction in CH 4 yield (CH 4 /kg of DMI) could be ascribed to the effect of fat, a 12% to 13% reduction could be ascribed to the effect of nitrate and an 18% to 23% reduction could be ascribed to the effect of 3-NOP. Hence, no combinations of additives resulted in CH 4 yield-reductions that were greater than what was obtained by separate supplementation of the most potent additive within the combination. The CH 4 yield reduction potential of additives was similar between parities. Increased apparent total-tract digestibility of organic matter (OM) in cows fed combinations including nitrate or 3-NOP was a result of a NITRATE × 3-NOP interaction. Apparent total-tract digestibility of OM was also increased by fat supplementation. These increases reflected observed decreases in DMI. In conclusion, combined use of fat, nitrate, and 3-NOP in all combinations did not result in CH 4 reductions that were greater than separate supplementation of the most potent additive within the combination (3-NOP > nitrate > fat). Additionally, separate supplementation of some additives and combined use of all additives reduced DMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic (PV) arrays are often affected by partial shading (PS), which can significantly reduce their power output. Dynamic reconfiguration is a promising technique for mitigating the negative effects of PS by adjusting the electrical connections of the PV modules in real-time. This paper introduces a hierarchical-based switching block scheme for the dynamic reconfiguration of PV arrays under PS conditions. With the aim of mitigating the negative impact of PS on PV arrays, the proposed system employs a low complexity and easily scalable architecture, making it well-suited for practical applications. Comparative assessments against conventional configurations such as bridge-linked (BL), total-cross-tied (TCT), and series–parallel (SP) reveal superior energy harvesting efficiency for the proposed system under various shading conditions. The hierarchical switching block architecture, featuring multiple levels of switching blocks, enables efficient and flexible reconfiguration of the PV array, even in the presence of complex shading patterns. Through extensive simulations, the system consistently outperforms conventional configurations by adapting effectively to changing shading patterns and optimizing the PV array's output. The proposed switching block (SB) reconfiguration technique significantly outperforms existing methods like TCT, Sudoku, dynamic proposals, and Magic Square in terms of both power generation (up to 42.52% increase) and efficiency (up to 42.13% improvement) under diverse partial shading conditions. The proposed hierarchical-based switching block scheme thus presents a promising solution for enhancing the dynamic reconfiguration of PV arrays under PS conditions, offering a balance between low complexity, scalability, and superior energy harvesting efficiency for practical applications in the realm of solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Latin square is a matrix of symbols such that each symbol occurs exactly once in each row and column. A Latin square L$L$ is row‐Hamiltonian if the permutation induced by each pair of distinct rows of L$L$ is a full cycle permutation. Row‐Hamiltonian Latin squares are equivalent to perfect 1‐factorisations of complete bipartite graphs. For the first time, we exhibit a family of Latin squares that are row‐Hamiltonian and also achieve precisely one of the related properties of being column‐Hamiltonian or symbol‐Hamiltonian. This family allows us to construct non‐trivial, anti‐associative, isotopically L$L$‐closed loop varieties, solving an open problem posed by Falconer in 1970. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Deoxynivalenol is a secondary metabolite produced by fungal activity which has detrimental effects on nutrient digestibility and growth performance in pigs. These metabolites are found in the grain feeds such as barley, corn, and wheat, which are major ingredients in pig diets. To mitigate the negative effects of deoxynivalenol, clay products are often supplemented in pig diets. However, clay products potentially bind nutrients, including minerals and amino acids, consequently decreasing the digestibility of these essential nutrients. On the other hand, a preservative blend product containing antioxidants, microorganisms, vitamins, and amino acids was reported to restore the impaired growth performance by deoxynivalenol. In the present study, sodium digestibility was decreased by dietary deoxynivalenol but restored with the supplementation of the preservative blend product. Zinc digestibility was increased by dietary deoxynivalenol but decreased when bentonite was added to the deoxynivalenol-contaminated diet. The digestibility of some amino acids was decreased by supplemental bentonite. Overall, the addition of the preservation blend product improved some mineral digestibility whereas the addition of bentonite decreased the digestibility of some minerals and amino acids. The objectives were to determine the effects of dietary deoxynivalenol (DON) on apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of nutrients and to evaluate the efficacy of a bentonite (BEN) and a preservative blend (PB) product for alleviating DON effects on the nutrient digestibility of pigs. Twelve crossbred barrows with an initial body weight of 69.4 kg (standard deviation = 3.5) equipped with a T-cannula in the distal ileum were allotted a triplicated 4 × 2 incomplete Latin square design with four dietary treatments and two periods. Dietary treatments were (1) an uncontaminated diet, (2) a contaminated diet (CD) mainly based on contaminated wheat with 1.6 mg/kg DON, (3) CD + 0.25% PB consisting of preservation components as major sources, antioxidants, microorganisms, and amino acids (AA), and (4) CD + 0.25% BEN. The AID and ATTD of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, most minerals, and most AA were not affected by DON contamination. Dietary DON decreased the AID and ATTD of sodium (p < 0.05) but were restored by supplementing the PB product (p < 0.05). The AID of zinc was increased (p < 0.05) by dietary DON, but supplementing BEN decreased zinc digestibility (p < 0.05). The AID of Arg, Ile, Thr, and Asp was decreased (p < 0.05) by BEN addition. In conclusion, dietary DON affected the digestibility of some minerals but not AA in pigs. Supplemental BEN can negatively affect the nutrient digestibility of some minerals and AA in pigs. The addition of a PB product in pig diets can restore digestibility of sodium but not of other nutrients. Based on these observations, feed additives for alleviating DON effects on nutrient digestibility of pigs can be carefully selected by swine diet formulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several central problems in quantum information theory (such as measurement compatibility and quantum steering) can be rephrased as membership in the minimal matrix convex set corresponding to special polytopes (such as the hypercube or its dual). In this article, we generalize this idea and introduce the notion of polytope compatibility, by considering arbitrary polytopes. We find that semiclassical magic squares correspond to Birkhoff polytope compatibility. In general, we prove that polytope compatibility is in one-to-one correspondence with measurement compatibility, when the measurements have some elements in common and the post-processing of the joint measurement is restricted. Finally, we consider how much tuples of operators with appropriate joint numerical range have to be scaled in the worst case in order to become polytope compatible and give both analytical sufficient conditions and numerical ones based on linear programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six Holstein steers (153 kg ± 11) with cannulas in the rumen and proximal duodenum were used in a 6 x 6 Latin square design experiment to compare flake density (FD, kg/L), flake thickness (FT, mm), amyloglucosidase reactivity (AGR, % DM) and faecal starch (FS, % DM) as predictors of ruminal (RSD, %) and total tract (TSD, %) starch digestion. Dietary treatments consisted of a finishing diet containing 77% corn. The six corn processing treatments consisted of dry-rolled corn (DRC) with a density of 0.54 kg/L, and steam-flaked corn (SFC) processed to obtain densities of 0.46, 0.41, 0.36, 0.31 and 0.26 kg/L. Compared with DRC, steam flaking enhanced postruminal (34.2%, P < 0.01) and TSD (7.8%, P < 0.01). Measures of FS were the best single predictor of both ruminal (r²= 0.97) and TSD (r² = 0.98). Whereas AGR was a good predictor of RSD (r²= 0.94), it was less effective than FS for estimation of TSD (r2 = 0.91). We conclude that compared with dry rolling, stream flaking markedly enhances the feeding value of corn. To evaluate the consistency of the flaking process, we recommend in addition to the determinations of FD, measurements of FT, starch enzymatic reactivity and FS are useful indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A list of new partially balanced designs including group divisible, Latin square and triangular designs with r, k ≤ 10 is provided. These designs have not been reported in the tables of Clatworthy (1973) and Sinha (1991). Unsettled cases of Latin square and triangular designs are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-farm precision experimentation (OFPE) has expanded rapidly over the past few years. While the importance of OFPE trial design efficiency has been recognized, existing studies have primarily used statistical measures of that efficiency to compare designs. The current article is motivated by the surety that farmers are more interested in economic results than statistical results; Monte Carlo simulations of corn-to-nitrogen (N) response OFPEs were used to compare economic performances of 13 different types of OFPE trial design. Each design type's economic efficiency was measured by the monetary profits resulting from applying the site-specific economically optimal N rates estimated from the data generated by the design type. Results showed that trial design affects the economic performance of OFPE. Overall, the best design was the Latin square design with a special pattern of limited N rate "jump," which had the highest average profit and lowest profit variation in almost all simulation scenarios. A particular type of patterned strip design also performed well, generating average profits only slightly lower than those from the best design. In contrast, designs with gradual trial rate changes over space were less profitable in most situations and should be avoided. Results were similar under various scenarios of nitrogen-to-corn price ratios, yield response estimation models, and field sizes used in the simulations. It was also found that the designs' economic performances were roughly correlated with the spatial property measures of trial designs in existing literature, though much remains unexplained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incomplete block designs bring out useful information from agricultural experimentation with high precision when there is a crunch in resources in terms of homogeneous blocks that can accommodate all the treatments. Balanced incomplete block designs or 2-designs are the most popular class of incomplete block designs. t-designs represent a generalized class of balanced incomplete block designs in which the number of blocks in which any t treatments (t≥2) occur together is a constant. In order to obtain tbalance, we may require large number of blocks and replications. Partially balanced t-designs are introduced for experimental situations where it is not possible to get balanced t-designs. Two series of such designs are obtained using cyclic development of initial block(s). Association of the proposed designs with t-packing designs are also demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to compare cashew nutshell extract (CNSE) to monensin and evaluate changes in in vitro mixed ruminal microorganism fermentation, nutrient digestibility, and microbial nitrogen outflow. Treatments were randomly assigned to 8 fermenters in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with 4 experimental periods of 10 d (7 d for diet adaptation and 3 d for sample collection). Basal diets contained 43.5:56.5 forage: concentrate ratio and each fermenter was fed 106 g of DM/d divided equally between 2 feeding times. Treatments were control (CON, basal diet without additives), 2.5 μ M monensin (MON), 0.1 mg CNSE granule/g DM (CNSE100), and 0.2 mg CNSE granule/g DM (CNSE200). On d 8 to10, samples were collected for pH, lactate, NH 3 -N, volatile fatty acids (VFA), mixed protozoa counts, organic matter (OM), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility. Data were analyzed with the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS. Orthogonal contrasts were used to test the effects of (1) ADD (CON vs. MON, CNSE100, and CNSE200); (2) MCN (MON vs. CNSE100 and CNSE200); and (3) DOSE (CNSE100 vs. CNSE200). We observed that butyrate concentration in all treatments was lower compared with CON and the concentration for MON was lower compared with CNSE treatments. Protozoal population in all treatments was lower compared with CON. No effects were observed for pH, lactate, NH 3 -N, total VFA, OM, or N utilization. Within the 24-h pool, protozoal generation time, tended to be lower, while NDF digestibility tended to be greater in response to all additives. Furthermore, the microbial N flow, and the efficiency of N use tended to be lower for the monensin treatment compared with CNSE treatments. Overall, our results showed that both monensin and CNSE decreased butyrate synthesis and protozoal populations, while not affecting OM digestibility and tended to increase NDF digestibility; however, such effects are greater with monensin than CNSE nutshell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choline requirements for dairy cattle are unknown. However, enhanced postruminal supply of choline may increase flux through the methionine cycle to spare Met for other functions such as protein synthesis and phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis during periods of negative nutrient balance (NNB). The objective was to investigate the effects of postruminal choline supply during a feed restriction-induced NNB on hepatic abundance and phosphorylation of mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin)-related signaling proteins, hepatic lipidome and plasma AA. Ten primiparous rumen-cannulated Holstein cows (158 ± 24 DIM) were used in a replicated 5 × 5 Latin square design with 4 d of treatment and 10 d of recovery (14 d/period). Treatments were unrestricted intake with abomasal infusion of water, restricted intake (R; 60% of net energy for lactation requirements to induce NNB) with abomasal infusion of water (R0) or restriction plus abomasal infusion of 6.25, 12.5, or 25 g/d choline ion. Liver tissue was collected via biopsy on d 5 after infusions ended and used for Western blot analysis to measure proteins involved in mTOR signaling and untargeted lipidomics. Blood was collected on d 1 to 5 for plasma AA analysis. Statistical contrasts for protein and AA data were A0 versus R0 (CONT1), R0 versus the average of choline dose (CONT2) and tests of linear and quadratic effects of choline dose. Analysis of lipidomic data were performed with the web-based metabolomic processing tool MetaboAnalyst 5.0. Ratios of p-RPS6KB1:tRPS6KB1, p-EEF2:tEEF2, and p-EIF2:tEIF2 were greater with R (CONT1). Among those, supply of choline led to decreases in p-EEF2:tEEF2 (CONT2), p-EIF2:tEIF2 and tended to decrease p-EIF4BP1:tEIF4BP1. However, the effect was quadratic only for p-EEF2:tEEF2 and p-EIF2A:tEIF2A, reaching a nadir at 6.25 to 12.5 g/d choline ion. The ratio of p-RPS6KB1:tRPS6KB1 was not affected by supply of choline and was close to 2-fold greater at 25 g/d choline versus A0. Plasma Met concentration decreased with R (CONT1), but increased linearly with choline. Restriction also increased plasma 3-methyl-histidine (CONT1). The partial least squares discriminant analysis model of liver lipids distinguished treatments, with 13.4% of lipids being modified by treatment. One-way ANOVA identified 109 lipids with a false discovery rate ≤0.05. The largest group identified was PC species; all 35 detected decreased with R versus A0, but there were few differences among choline treatments. Overall, data suggested that dephosphorylation of EEF2 and EIF2A due to enhanced choline supply potentially helped maintain or increase protein synthesis during NNB. While activation of mTOR was not altered by choline, this idea of increased protein synthesis is partly supported by the increased circulating Met. However, enhanced postruminal choline had limited effects on the species of lipid produced during a period of NNB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to assess if Dicalcium Phosphate 18% (DCP) supplementation in dairy feed would affect dry matter intake, milk composition, blood mineral balance and milk production in lactating crossbred Dairy Cows). A 4 × 4 double change-over design set as Latin Squares was used to do feeding and digestibility trials. DCP was supplemented at different levels 0; 0.3; 0.6; 0.9% DM/day of DCP for which the experimental groups was respectively designated as T0, T1, T2, T3, The effect of DCP supplementation on parameters of interest was evaluated using blood serum, milk, feed and feed refusals samples. The present study revealed that supplementation of DCP with the concentrate mix improved mean dry matter intake (11.46; 12.81; 14.59, and 15.68 kg DM/d) for T0, T1, T2, T3, respectively, and digestibility of nutrients in lactating dairy cows compared to the controls. Likewise, DCP supplementation improved milk production and composition except solids not fat (SNF) composition. Serum calcium (Ca) composition was significantly in supplemented group (p<0.05). DCP supplementation significantly improved (p<0.05) total Ca intake, Ca in milk, Ca in feces, total Ca excretion. Optimum dairy cow production and productivity was achieved at 0.6% DM/day of DCP supplementation. However, the current results need to be confirmed using large number of lactating dairy animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice straws are underutilized as feed due to cattle's preference for fresh straw. Rice straws have low nutritional value and are easily susceptible to microbial spoilage during traditional storage of loose stacking or manual open-air balling. Supplementing fresh rice straws with some minerals, energy, and protein could improve the nutritional value and storage stability under different preservation methods. The present study aimed to determine the effect of supplementing fresh rice straws with minerals, molasses, and urea, stored under three manual treatments: loose stacking, open-air balling, and airtight wrapping. Fresh rice straws were treated with 1% calcite-based mineral mixture, 0.6% molasses, and 0.05% urea and stored for 60 days. The supplemented rice straws were chopped and mixed with a basal diet composed of 55% elephant grass and 20% concentrate. Four experimental diets were then developed from the composite. That is the basal diet + fresh rice straw (FRS), basal diet+stacking supplemented rice straw (SSRS), basal diet+balling supplemented rice straw (BSSR), and basal diet+wrapping supplemented rice straw (WSRS). The experimental diets were fed to young Pesisir bulls using a 4x4 Latin Square design for eleven days. Fresh and supplemented rice straws were analyzed for dry matter, mineral content, blood hematology profile and protein content. The fresh rice straw had a relatively high potassium, iron, and manganese content but was low in calcium, sodium, phosphorus, copper, and selenium. Supplementation significantly increased the concentration of calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, copper, and selenium in the preserved rice straw. Rice straw preserved in the wrapping way had the highest copper, cobalt, and selenium content. Feeding cattle with supplemented rice straw preserved in the wrapping method, decreased the blood monocyte value equivalent to that of the fresh straw. Supplementation of fresh rice straws with calcite-based minerals, molasses, and urea has the potential to increase some essential mineral content and maintained the nutritional value of rice straw preserved in an air-tied wrapping method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different leaves on feed intake, nutrient apparent digestibility and nitrogen balance in forest musk deer. Twelve male forest musk deers (Moschus Berezovskii) of similar age and good health were used in a 6×6 Latin square design with 2 replicates per group. The ration consists of base material and the leaves. Green rattan, mulberry leaves, triangular maple leaves, elm leaves, Melia azedarach leaves and mixture of the above five leaves in equal proportion were used in each group. The results showed as follows: ① the intake of base material and leaves in mulberry leaves group had no significant difference from those in other groups (P>0.05). The intake of total ration in mulberry leaves group was significantly lower than that in mixed group (P<0.05), but had no significant difference with the rest groups (P>0.05). ② The apparent digestibility of dry crude protein (CP), crude ash, calcium, carbohydrate (CHO), total energy (GE) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in mulberry leaves group were significantly higher than those in other groups (P<0.05). ③ The retention nitrogen and nitrogen utilization in mulberry leaves group were higher than those in other groups (P<0.05). It is concluded that the apparent digestibility and nitrogen utilization of ration are higher in mulberry leaves group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A magic labelling of a graph G with magic sum s is a labelling of the edges of G by nonnegative integers such that for each vertex v ∈ V , the sum of labels of all edges incident to v is equal to the same number s. Stanley gave remarkable results on magic labellings, but the distinct labelling case is much more complicated. We consider the complete construction of all magic labellings of a given graph G. The idea is illustrated in detail by dealing with three regular graphs and a non-regular graph. We give combinatorial proofs. The structure result was used to enumerate the corresponding magic distinct labellings. The idea can be carried out directly for graphs with no more than 9 edges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional PV array configurations fail to eliminate the ill effects of partial shading (PS) thereby resulting in mismatch losses. PV array reconfiguration is considered as the most competent solution for shading-related issues. However, many reconfiguration techniques reported in the literature fail to disperse the shade effectively, not compatible with large-scale arrays, and are not generalized for all array sizes. To overcome these limitations, a highly efficient generalized Henon Map technique which is extensively used in the image encryption process is proposed in this paper to reconfigure the PV array. The proposed technique is extensively analyzed for 9 × 9, 8 × 8, 4 × 4, 3 × 5 and 4 × 3 PV arrays under distinct shading patterns with seven parameters. The obtained results are compared with conventional Series-Parallel, Total-Cross-Tied, and very recently reported Odd-Even, Odd-Even-Prime, Chaotic Baker's Map, Magic square, and Diagonal-TCT reconfiguration techniques. Besides, an experimental prototype model is developed and tested under artificially shading conditions to validate the competence of the proposed configuration. From the comprehensive analysis, it is noted that the proposed technique offers consistently superior performance with the least percentage mismatch and maximum power enhancement of 24.17%, 25.65%, and 47.81% for various shading cases of 9 × 9, 8 × 8, and 4 × 4 PV arrays, respectively. Further, a qualitative comparative assessment of the proposed technique with other state-of-art techniques is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of ß-mannanase on metabolizable energy (ME) and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of protein in various feedstuffs including barley, copra meal, corn, corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), palm kernel meal, sorghum, and soybean meal. Methods: A basal diet was formulated with 94.8% corn and 0.77% amino acids, minerals, and vitamins and test diets replacing corn-basal diets with barley, corn DDGS, sorghum, soybean meal, or wheat (50%, respectively) and copra meal or palm kernel meal (30%, respectively). The basal diet and test diets were evaluated by using triplicated or quadruplicated 2×2 Latin square designs consisting of 2 diets and 2 periods with a total of 54 barrows at 20.6±0.6 kg (9 wk of age). Dietary treatments were levels of ß-mannanase supplementation (0 or 800 U/kg of feed). Fecal and urine samples were collected for 4 d following a 4-d adaptation period. The ME and ATTD of crude protein (CP) in feedstuffs were calculated by a difference procedure. Data were analyzed using Proc general linear model of SAS. Results: Supplementation of ß-mannanase improved (p<0.05) ME of barley (10.4%), palm kernel meal (12.4%), sorghum (6.0%), and soybean meal (2.9%) fed to growing pigs. Supplementation of ß-mannanase increased (p<0.05) ATTD of CP in palm kernel meal (8.8%) and tended to increase (p = 0.061) ATTD of CP in copra meal (18.0%) fed to growing pigs. Conclusion: This study indicates that various factors such as the structure and the amount of ß-mannans, water binding capacity, and the level of resistant starch vary among feedstuffs and the efficacy of supplemental ß-mannanase may be influenced by these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study focuses on the impact of environmental conditions and the use of phytogenic additives on dairy cattle performance and cheese production. The research was conducted in Brazil and considered the effects of shade and dietary additives on various physiological and production parameters. The results showed that providing shade to cows can help mitigate the effects of heat stress, although it did not significantly affect milk yield or quality. The use of a phytogenic additive did not yield substantial changes in the parameters studied, suggesting the potential adaptability of the animals to their environment. Cheese production was not significantly influenced by these factors, indicating a consistent yield and quality. This study highlights the need for further research to explore the benefits of phytogenic additives and their impact on animal welfare and product quality. In summary, while shade and dietary additives may offer some advantages, the adaptability of dairy cattle and specific environmental conditions should be considered when implementing strategies to enhance productivity and product quality in the dairy industry. This investigation aimed to assess the physiological parameters and quality of milk and fresh cheeses produced by cows that were housed in paddocks, either with or without shade, and supplemented with a phytogenic additive. Sixteen crossbred cows were allocated in a 4 × 4 Latin square design, dividing them into paddocks with or without shade, and providing or not providing a phytogenic additive in their feed. This resulted in a total of four treatment groups and sixteen experimental plots, each containing four animals, over four periods of 21 days. Various parameters were examined, including haematology, rectal and skin temperature, respiratory rate, milk yield and composition, serum parameters, and cheese yield and quality. It is worth noting that the temperature and humidity, as measured by a black globe thermometer, did not display significant variations between the different environments and exhibited minimal fluctuations throughout the day. Additionally, the supplementation of the phytogenic additive led to a reduction in haematocrit levels (p = 0.011). Furthermore, the analysis showed that whey obtained from cheese production had a higher fat content when cows were without access to shade (p = 0.005). Notably, there was an interaction between factors in relation to the total dry extract content, which was lower when cows had access to shade and received the additive (p = 0.010). In summary, the provision of a phytogenic additive and the presence or absence of shade did not bring about significant changes in milk production and quality or in the yield and quality of fresh cheese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multimedia data is crucial in the military, medical, forensics, social, etc., to transmit a large amount of data. Security of this sensitive information is the primary issue. This paper uses Latin square and machine learning techniques such as neural networks and genetic algorithm to design an image encryption algorithm. A new neural network-based pseudorandom number generator is proposed to generate a chaotic sequence for various applications. Encryption key images are designed using Latin squares in the finite field. Further, the Latin squares are XOR with the input matrix to get the encrypted images. The proposed algorithm is iterated a finite number of times to generate a cipher image population. Randomly two parents are chosen from the generated population, and row and column arrangements produce offspring. A genetic algorithm is the optimization technique used for the best encrypted image search. The pixel correlation value serves as a fitness function. Finally, the least correlated cipher image is obtained from the genetic algorithm applied to the parent and offspring of the population generated from the encryption algorithm. The simulation results from the proposed image encryption model surpass many communication channel attacks and perform better when compared to existing image security algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainbow matchings in graphs and in hypergraphs have been studied extensively, one motivation coming from questions on matchings in 3‐partite hypergraphs, including questions on transversals in Latin squares. Matchings in graphs are independent sets in line graphs, so a natural problem is to extend the study to rainbow independent sets in general graphs. We study problems of the following form: given a class C ${\mathscr{C}}$ of graphs, how many independent sets of size n $n$ in a graph belonging to C ${\mathscr{C}}$ are needed to guarantee the existence of a rainbow set of size m $m$? A particularly interesting case is the class of graphs having a given upper bound on their maximum degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his study on the geometry of Lie groups, Rosenfeld postulated a strict relation between all real forms of exceptional Lie groups and the isometries of projective and hyperbolic spaces over the (rank-2) tensor product of Hurwitz algebras taken with appropriate conjugations. Unfortunately, the procedure carried out by Rosenfeld was not rigorous, since many of the theorems he had been using do not actually hold true in the case of algebras that are not alternative nor power-associative. A more rigorous approach to the definition of all the planes presented more than thirty years ago by Rosenfeld in terms of their isometry group, can be considered within the theory of coset manifolds, which we exploit in this work, by making use of all real forms of Magic Squares of order three and two over Hurwitz normed division algebras and their split versions. Within our analysis, we find seven pseudo-Riemannian symmetric coset manifolds which seemingly cannot have any interpretation within Rosenfeld's framework. We carry out a similar analysis for Rosenfeld lines, obtaining that there are a number of pseudo-Riemannian symmetric cosets which do not have any interpretation á la Rosenfeld. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The unpredictability of partial shadowing impacts the solar photovoltaic system's performance. This results in mismatch losses, reducing the healthy PV module's power output. This paper proposes a new reconfiguration method to increase the power generation of an array by lowering the power losses. A new physical relocation technique named the magic matrix shifting (MMS) method has been introduced in this paper. This work uses MATLAB/Simulink to model a 36, 213w, 6 × 6 PV array construction. Under six different partial shading situations, the performance has been examined based on P‐V, I‐V characteristics, maximum power extraction, power loss, and percentage. For comparison purposes, conventional total‐cross‐tide (TCT) and six other reconfigurations, including sudoku (SK), optimum sudoku (OSK), zig‐zag (ZZ), magic square (MS), sky‐scraper (SS), and novel shade dispersion (NSD) have been considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]