Earliest Finish Research Articles

Quantification of physiological and mental workloads of faster and slower finishers of a long-distance military training activity

BackgroundLong-distance runs with equipment are practised in military training establishments to develop physical stamina and prepare for battles. A study was planned to quantify and compare the physiological and mental...

26 Effects of increasing net energy or standardized ileal digestible lysine in soybean meal-based diets on early and late finishing pig performance

Abstract A total of 2,265 finishing pigs [337×1050, PIC; initial body weight (BW) = 50.2 kg) were used in two 28-d trials to determine the effect of increasing net energy (NE) or standardized ileal digestible Lys in soybean meal (SBM) based diets on early and late finishing pig performance. There were 27 pigs/pen and 21 pens/treatment. Soybean meal NE value used in diet formulation was either 78% (2,087 kcal/kg) or 100% (2,672 kcal/kg) of corn NE. Four treatment diets were assigned to pens in a completely randomized design and consisted of: 1) high level of SBM estimated at 100% NE of corn (High SBM); 2) low level of SBM estimated at 100% NE of corn with added feed-grade AA (Low SBM); 3) low level of SBM estimated at 78% NE of corn with added fat (Low SBM w/fat) to equal the NE in diets 1 and 2; and 4) low level of SBM estimated at 100% NE of corn with increased feed-grade AA and increased Lys:NE (Low SBM w/AA). Following the early finishing 28-d growth trial (initial BW = 50.2 kg), pigs were fed a common diet for 30-d and pens were randomly reallotted to 1 of the same 4 treatments for the late finishing trial (initial BW 114.1 kg). In early finishing, there were no differences (P > 0.10) in average daily gain (ADG), but pigs fed Low SBM w/AA had increased (P < 0.05) average daily feed intake (ADFI) compared with pigs fed High SBM (Table). The increased ADFI without increased ADG resulted in decreased (P < 0.05) gain to feed ratio (G:F) in pigs fed Low SBM w/AA compared with pigs fed Low SBM w/fat. Pigs fed Low SBM w/fat had improved (P < 0.05) caloric efficiency (CE) compared with pigs fed Low SBM w/AA. In late finishing, there was a tendency (P = 0.099) for a treatment effect on G:F where pigs fed High SBM had the greatest G:F, but there was not a significant difference (P > 0.05) between any two treatments when using a Tukey multiple comparison adjustment. There was no evidence (P > 0.10) for a difference between treatments on ADG, ADFI, or CE. Based on the performance of pigs fed the Low SBM w/AA diet, the decreased growth performance of low SBM diets is not due to a low Lys:Calorie ratio that results when NE is underestimated. Using caloric efficiency, an estimate of the NE of SBM was calculated by adjusting NE of SBM used in formulation until CE for the High SBM and Low SBM treatments were equal. These results showed SBM was estimated to contain 94% the NE of corn in the early finishing period and 125% the NE of corn in the late finishing period.

199 Phytosorb improves feed efficiency in pigs of two different commercial Duroc sire lines in late finishing compared with tri-basic copper chloride

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to determine whether Phytosorb could replace tribasic copper chloride in grow-finish rations with equal or better performance, and evaluate this in two Duroc sire lines. A total of 1,080 growing pigs [initial body weight (BW) = 35.3 ± 1.05 kg) from DNA female with 2 different sire lines (A and B) were randomly assigned to 2 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. There were 27 pigs in each pen and 10 replicate pens per treatment. The 2 dietary treatments were 1) standard diet with an additional 150 ppm of Cu supplementation (CON); 2) standard diet without copper supplementation + 0.45 kg of Phytosorb (PHY) a source of natural flavors and soy lecithin. Body weight and feed disappearance were recorded by pen on d 0, 21, 35, 49, 64, and 77, and were used to calculate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain to feed ratio (G:F). After d 77, an equal number of pigs from each pen were weighed and marketed over 5 individual cuts. Data were used to calculate all parameters and were analyzed using the GLM procedure in Minitab with Fisher’s t-test determining differences between treatments. The initial model included treatment, genetics (sire lines), and the interaction between treatment and genetics, however, the interaction was excluded in the final model due to being non-significant on the response criteria. Results indicated that ADG was greater (P < 0.05) and ADFI tended (P < 0.10) to be greater in pigs fed CON compared with pigs fed PHY from d 0 to 64 Table 1). G:F was greater (+5.9%, P < 0.05) from d 64 to 77, and G:F tended (+3.8%, P < 0.10) to be greater from d 64 to market weight (MKT; approximately 104 to - 134 kg BW) in pigs fed PHY compared with pigs fed CON. For the overall finishing phase (approx. 35.5 to 134 kg BW), ADG tended to be greater (P < 0.10) in pigs fed CON compared with pigs fed PHY but no differences in ADFI and G:F were observed. For genetics, there were G:F differences (P < 0.05, respectively) between sire line A and B from d 0 to 64, d 64 to MKT, and d 77 to MKT and overall finishing phase. Phytosorb was not able to replace copper in early finishing; the response during this phase was what we would expect copper to do. In late finishing, however, these results demonstrate that Phytosorb may give equal ADG, with an improved G:F ratio leading to an improved cost per kg of gain as compared with feeding tribasic copper chloride. This feeding strategy would support environmental sustainability by reducing the usage of copper in finishing diets.

192 Effect of Dietary Anhydrous Calcium Chloride in Early and Late Finishing on Pig Performance and Body Composition

Abstract Understanding how to control pig growth is critical during market disruptions, including foreign animal disease and harvest facility shutdowns. In times of severe market disruptions, feeding acidogenic salts such as anhydrous calcium chloride to suppress appetite is an effective way to manage pig growth. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand the impact of feeding calcium chloride during early and late growth stages on grow-finish growth and body composition of pigs. Barrows and gilts (n = 240; 52 ± 6.9 kg BW) were allotted by sex across 60 pens and to one of three treatments fed in 3 diet phases (Phase 1, d 1-28; Phase 2 d 28-56; Phase 3 d 57-87). Treatment included: 1) Control corn-soy diets in phases 1-3, 2) 3% CaCl2 intervention in phase 1, control diet fed in phases 2 and 3 (IP1), and 3) Control diet fed in phases 1 and 2, and 3% CaCl2 intervention in phase 3 (IP3). All diets were formulated to meet or exceed amino acid and energy requirements and pigs were fed ad libitum. Pig BW were recorded at the start and end of each phase, and pen feed disappearance was recorded to calculate pen ADG, ADFI, and G: F. Loin eye area and fat depth were measured using real-time ultrasound at the end of phases 1 and 3. Data were analyzed with pen as the experimental unit and treatment, gender, and their interaction as fixed effects. No noteworthy gender by diet interactions were demonstrated and only the diet treatment, overall performance, and ultrasound trait means are reported (Table 1). Compared with the Control and IP3, IP1 reduced ADFI and ADG by 42% and 60%, respectively, in phase 1 (P< 0.05). Feed efficiency, loin eye area, and fat depth were also reduced in the IP1 compared with the Control and IP3 pigs in phase 1 (P< 0.05). In phase 2, the IP1 pigs did not have a significant difference in feed intake and their ADG increased by 22% compared with the Control and IP3 pigs (P< 0.05) and therefore were more feed efficient. Implementation of CaCl2 in phase 3, the IP3 pigs reduced ADFI, ADG, and G: F compared with the control and IP1. Further, phase 3 loin eye area and fat depth were 13% and 17% less, respectively, in the IP3 pigs compared with the control. Overall, the IP3 treatment had the most severe reductions in ADG, ADFI, and feed efficiency (P< 0.05). Early intervention (IP1) also attenuated overall G: F, ADFI, and ADG compared with the Control (P< 0.05). These results demonstrate the efficacy of calcium chloride in attenuating pig feed intake and growth performance during early and late finishing.

Effect of reducing dietary crude protein level on growth performance, blood profiles, nutrient digestibility, carcass traits, and odor emissions in growing-finishing pigs.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a low-protein (LP) diet on growth performance, carcass traits, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and odor emissions in growing-finishing pigs. A total of 126 crossbred pigs ([Yorkshire × Landrace] × Duroc) with an average body weight (BW) of 38.56 ± 0.53 kg were used for a 14-week feeding trial. Experimental pigs were allotted to one of 6 treatments in 3 replicates of 7 pigs per pen in a randomized complete block design. Pigs were fed each treatment diet with different levels of crude protein (CP). Phase 1 (early growing): 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%; phase 2 (late growing): 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%, 18%; phase 3 (early finishing): 12%, 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%; phase 4 (late finishing): 11%, 12%, 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%. All experimental diets in each phase were contained the same concentration of lysine (Lys), methionine (Met), threonine (Thr), and tryptophan (Trp). Over the entire experimental period, there was no significant difference in body weight (BW), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain-to-feed ratio (G:F ratio) among all treatments (p>0.05), but a quadratic effect (p = 0.04) was observed in average daily gain (ADG) during the late finishing phase with higher ADG in Group D. Blood urea nitrogen concentration linearly increased with an increase in dietary CP levels (p<0.01). Regarding nutrient digestibility, excreted nitrogen in urine and feces and nitrogen retention linearly increased as the CP level increased (p<0.01). A linear effect was observed with increasing CP levels in amines, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide in odor emissions (p<0.01). No significant effects were observed in the measurements of carcass traits and meat characteristics (p>0.05). In phase feeding, reducing the CP level to 14% in early-growing pigs, 13% in late-growing pigs, 12% in early-finishing pigs, and 11% in late-finishing pigs is recommended.

Early finishers: How EFL students bring tasks to early completion and what happens next

AbstractIn classrooms that use small‐group tasks, some groups may finish earlier than others and there may be concern that early finishers will become disengaged. However, early finishing remains relatively under‐examined. This paper uses conversation analysis to investigate how EFL students in a Japanese university finish tasks early. It describes a set of practices students use to finish tasks and reveals how students orient to the achievement of task outcomes. The study finds that students may have more to say on task topics than a task allows, and early finishers may develop these topics in post‐task talk in the target language. The paper argues that early finishing may lead to useful language practice and teachers should therefore be cautious when assigning extra work to early finishers.

TEST COMPLETION TIME, SUBJECT SCORES AND ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY. HOW DO THEY RELATE?

&lt;p&gt;Educators always endeavor to unravel the myriad of unexplained variables in learning environments. Examination taking is one such variable. Given the importance attached to examination results, educators seek answers as to why some students have shorter completion time than others and whether they end up scoring better than those who finish later. Is this phenomenon related to their levels of academic self-efficacy? This study set out to investigate the relationship between academic behavior confidence, test scores and test completion time. It was grounded on the self-efficacy theory by Albert Bandura. In an exam-taking situation, twenty-five early finishers and twenty-five late finishers were identified in a common unit examination in a public university in Kenya. They later filled out the Academic Behavior Confidence scale developed by Sander &amp;amp; Sanders (2019). The relationships between the completion time, the test scores on the common unit and their Academic Behavior Confidence scores were investigated using non-parametric approaches, specifically the Spearman’s rho and Mann-Whitney U test. Results show a significant difference between completion time and test scores. Paradoxically, there is no significant difference between completion time and ABC scores. However, there is a positive relationship between test scores and Academic Behavior Confidence scores. It is recommended that educators should use mastery experiences, verbal persuasion and vicarious experiences to enhance Academic Self-efficacy, which may, in turn, improve test scores.&lt;/p&gt;.&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0028/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Optimal dietary standardized ileal digestible lysine level for pigs during the grower, early and late finisher periods

BackgroundLysine (Lys) is the first limiting amino acid for pigs fed corn-soybean meal diets. Three experiments were conducted to estimate the optimal standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys requirement for growing (Exp. 1), early finishing (Exp. 2), and late finishing (Exp. 3) pigs under commercial conditions.Results and conclusionsIn Exp. 1, a total of 650 growing pigs (32.21 ± 0.33 kg bodyweight), were allocated to 5 dietary treatments supplemented with 0.75, 0.85, 0.94, 1.03, and 1.13% SID Lys. Each treatment had 5 replicate pens with 26 pigs per pen. The lowest feed to gain ratio (F:G) was obtained by pigs fed the 1.03% Lys diet and F:G showed both a linear and a quadratic response with increasing Lys (P < 0.05). Based on broken-line and quadratic analysis models, dietary SID Lys levels for the minimum F:G were 0.94%. In Exp. 2, 650 finishing pigs (57.24 ± 2.00 kg bodyweight) were allotted to 5 dietary treatments providing SID Lys of 0.63, 0.71, 0.79, 0.87, and 0.95%. Each treatment had 5 replicates, 26 pigs per replication. The highest final bodyweight was achieved by 0.79% Lys while the highest average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) was achieved by pigs consuming the 0.87% Lys diet (P < 0.05). Additionally, the lowest F:G was obtained by pigs fed the 0.79 and 0.87% Lys diet (P < 0.05). Based on broken-line and quadratic analysis models, the optimum Lys was 0.81 and 0.82% for ADG and F:G, respectively. In Exp. 3, 600 late finishing pigs (92.22 ± 2.41 kg bodyweight), were divided into 5 treatments providing Lys levels of 0.53, 0.60, 0.66, 0.73, and 0.79%. Each treatment had 5 replicates, 24 pigs per replication. Results showed that final bodyweight, ADG, ADFI, and F:G was not affected by increasing dietary Lys level, suggesting that the lowest SID Lys (0.53%) was sufficient for this group of pigs. Taken together, the SID Lys requirement for pigs from 30 to 60 kg, 60 to 90 kg, 90 to 120 kg was 0.94%, 0.81 to 0.82, and 0.53%, respectively, depending on the response criteria with performance maximized.

Applicable areas of biomimicry principles for sustainable construction in Nigeria

PurposeWith over three billion years of existence of the world, researchers have seen the need to turn to nature to solve most of the problems faced in not only construction industry but in other industries. The principles of biomimicry are natural laws that has helped nature maintain its self-regenerating status over this long period of time of the world’s existence. This study investigates the areas of construction projects to which biomimicry principles can be applied with a view to enhance the delivery of sustainable projects.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted the use of quantitative approach, and well-structured questionnaires were administered to professionals in the construction industry who are responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of buildings. A total of 243 answered questionnaires were analysed for this study. The variables were analysed using both descriptive analysis and further grouped into components by using factor analysis.FindingsData analysis for this study revealed that the principles of biomimicry can be applied to all the stages of building projects development and operations; this implies that the principles of biomimicry can be adopted at both pre-construction (design) and construction phases of developmental projects.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was limited to Nigeria, but the findings can be generalized for construction industry across the globe.Originality/valueThe study identified design stage of work, tiling and painting as the foremost aspects of construction projects where biomimicry principles are applicable. Furthermore, biomimicry principles are applicable to four major areas of construction, namely, early construction stage, finishing and services stage, foundation and frame stage and project planning stage.

Appointment Scheduling for Multiple Servers

Appointment schedules, in essence, balance supply and demand and are often employed in settings where resources are scarce and thus a high utilization is realized (e.g., healthcare). Whereas most of the existing literature focuses on the single-server case, a framework is developed to study appointment scheduling in multiserver settings. Relying on phase-type approximations, general service-time distributions are modeled, which are fed into a recursive approach allowing evaluation and optimization of an objective function that balances expected waiting times and idle times. Studying optimized schedules for multiple servers reveals that the start and end of a session can deviate greatly from the dome-shaped pattern as established for the single-server case. Furthermore, a comparison of various multiserver setups shows that significant performance gains can be achieved when servers are pooled. This allows an explicit quantification of the cost of continuity of care. In addition, session overtime as well as early finish of servers can be incorporated in the approach; the benefits of the additional flexibility that a multiserver setting provides are summarized. For the stationary plateau of the dome, to which the optimal interarrival times converge, steady-state appointment schedules are obtained by exploiting the embedded Markov chain; these schedules are shown and argued to converge quickly to optimal solutions obtained in a heavy-traffic regime. In this regime, algebraic solutions are derived, which provide interesting managerial guidelines when the pooling of servers is considered in appointment scheduling. This paper was accepted by Bariş Ata, stochastic models and simulation.

Integration of Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program and Project Management Tool to Support Sustainable Cost-Optimal Construction Scheduling

This paper presents the integration of mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) and project management tool (PMT) to support sustainable cost-optimal construction scheduling. An integrated structure of a high-level system for exact optimization and PMT was created. To ensure data compatibility between the optimization system and PMT and to automate the process of obtaining a cost-optimal schedule, a data transformation tool (DTT) was developed within a spreadsheet application. The suggested system can determine: (i) an optimal project schedule with associated network diagram and Gantt chart in continuous or discrete time units; (ii) optimal critical and non-critical activities, including their early start, late start, early finish, late finish along with total and free slack times; and (iii) minimum total project cost along with the allocation of direct and indirect costs. The system provides functionalities such as: (i) MINLP can be updated, and schedules can be re-optimized; (ii) the optimal schedule can be saved as a baseline to track changes; (iii) different optimization algorithms can be engaged whereby switching between them does not require model changes; (iv) PMT can be used to track task completion in the optimized schedule; (v) calendar settings can be changed; and (vi) visual reports can be generated to support efficient project management. Results of cost-optimal project scheduling are given in a conventional PMT environment, which raises the possibility that the proposed system will be more widely used in practice. Integration of MINLP and PMT allows each software to be used for what it was initially designed. Their combination leads to additional information and features of optimized construction schedules that would be significantly more difficult to achieve if used separately. Application examples are given in the paper to show the advantages of the proposed approach.

PSVII-27 Genetic analysis of disease resilience of nursery-to-finish pigs under a natural disease challenge model using reaction norms

Abstract Disease resilience is the ability of an animal to maintain performance across environments with different disease challenge loads (CL) and can be quantified using random regression reaction norm models that describe phenotype as a function of CL. Objectives of this study were to: 1) develop measures of CL using growth rate and clinical disease phenotypes under a natural disease challenge; 2) evaluate genetic variation in disease resilience. Data used were late nursery and finisher growth rates and clinical disease phenotypes, including medical treatment and mortality rates, and subjective health scores, collected on 50 batches of 60/75 crossbred (LRxY) barrows under a polymicrobial natural disease challenge. All pigs were genotyped using a 650K SNP panel. Different CL were derived from estimates of contemporary group effects and used as environmental covariates in reaction norm analyses of average daily gain (ADG) and treatment rate (TRT). The CL were compared based on model loglikelihoods and estimates of genetic variance, using both linear and cubic spline reaction norm models. Linear reaction norm models fitted the data significantly better than the standard genetic model and the cubic spline models fitted the data significantly better than the linear reaction norm model for most traits. CL based on early finisher ADG provided the best fit for nursery ADG, while CL based on clinical disease phenotypes was best for finisher ADG and TRT. With increasing CL, estimates of heritability for ADG initially decreased and then increased, while estimates of heritability for TRT generally increased with CL. Genetic correlations were low between ADG or TRT at high versus low CL but high for close CLs. Results can be used to select more resilient pigs across different CL levels, or high-performance animals at a given CL level, or a combination of these. Funded by Genome Canada, Genome Alberta, USDA-NIFA, and PigGenCanada.

Smart-Contract Aware Ethereum and Client-Fog-Cloud Healthcare System.

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is increasingly being used for healthcare purposes. IoMT enables many sensors to collect patient data from various locations and send it to a distributed hospital for further study. IoMT provides patients with a variety of paid programmes to help them keep track of their health problems. However, the current system services are expensive, and offloaded data in the healthcare network are insecure. The research develops a new, cost-effective and stable IoMT framework based on a blockchain-enabled fog cloud. The study aims to reduce the cost of healthcare application services as they are processing in the system. The study devises an IoMT system based on different algorithm techniques, such as Blockchain-Enable Smart-Contract Cost-Efficient Scheduling Algorithm Framework (BECSAF) schemes. Smart-Contract Blockchain schemes ensure data consistency and validation with symmetric cryptography. However, due to the different workflow tasks scheduled on other nodes, the heterogeneous, earliest finish, time-based scheduling deals with execution under their deadlines. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm schemes outperform all existing baseline approaches in terms of the implementation of applications.

Growth performance and carcass quality are not different between pigs fed diets containing cold-fermented low-oil DDGS and pigs fed conventional DDGS, but pelleting improves gain to feed ratio regardless of source of DDGS.

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that growth performance and carcass characteristics of pigs fed diets containing cold-fermented, low oil distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is not different from that of pigs fed diets containing conventional DDGS regardless of the physical form of the diets. A total of 160 barrows and gilts were used. There were 4 diets, 10 pens per diet, and 4 pigs per pen. Pigs were weaned at 21 d of age and fed a common phase 1 diet that did not contain DDGS during the initial 7 d post-weaning. Pigs were then allotted to the four diets that were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial design with two sources of DDGS (cold-fermented and conventional DDGS) and two diet forms (meal and pellets). Pigs were fed phase 2 diets from day 7 to 21 and phase 3 diets from day 21 to 43 post-weaning. All diets were based on corn and soybean meal, but phase 2 diets also contained 15% DDGS and phase 3 diets contained 30% DDGS. From day 43, pigs were fed grower diets for 38 d, early finisher diets for 38 d, and late finisher diets for 18 d and these diets also contained 30% DDGS. Feed was provided on an ad libitum basis and daily feed allotments were recorded. Pigs were weighed at the beginning of each phase and at the conclusion of the experiment. On the last day of the experiment, the pig in each pen with a body weight that was closest to the pen average was slaughtered and carcass measurements were determined. Combined results for the two nursery phases indicated that feeding meal diets instead of pelleted diets increased (P < 0.001) average daily feed intake and decreased (P < 0.05) gain to feed ratio (G:F). However, no differences between the two sources of DDGS were observed for the overall growth performance of weanling pigs. For the entire growing-finishing period, the source of DDGS did not affect growth performance, but pigs fed meal diets had reduced (P < 0.001) G:F compared with pigs fed the pelleted diets. There were no differences between the two sources of DDGS for carcass characteristics. Back fat was greater (P < 0.05) for pigs fed pelleted diets than for pigs fed meal diets. In conclusion, no differences in growth performance or carcass characteristics between pigs fed cold-fermented DDGS and pigs fed conventional DDGS were observed. However, pigs fed pelleted diets had greater G:F and greater back fat than pigs fed meal diets.

Pengaruh penggantian sebagian ransum dengan tepung daun dan batang ubi jalar terhadap kecernaan kalsium dan fosfor pada ternak babi

EFFECT OF PART SUBSTITUTION OF DIET WITH LEAF AND STEM OF SWEET POTATO MEAL ON DIGESTIBILITY OF CALCIUM AND PHOSPHOR IN PIG.This study aims to find out the extent of the influence of the use of leaf and stem of sweet potato meal replacing some of the diet on calcium and phosphor consumption and digestibility in pig. This study used the design of latin square (Latin Squere Design) 5 x 5 consisting of 5 male pigs kastrasi results of the crossing Duroc X Spotted Polland China aged about 3.5 - 4.0 months, initial weight 50 kg (± 2.5 kg) and allocated into 5 treatments as follows: R0 = 100% basal diet + 0% leaves and stems of sweet potato; R1 = 92.5% basal diet + 75% sweet potato leaves and stems; R2 = 85% basal diet + 15% leaves and stems of sweet Potatoes, R3 = 77.5% basal diet + 22.5% leaves and stems of sweet potatoes; R4= 70% basal diet + 30% leaves and stems of sweet potatoes.The parameters measured were: the consumption of calcium and phosphorus, as well as theingest of calcium and phosphor. The results showed that the average calcium consumption of pigs in the initial phase of the finisher in each treatment ranged from 10.88 - 13.60grams, and for the average consumption of phosphorus ranged from 10.74% - 13.42grams.While the calcium ingest of pigs early phase finisher in each treatment ranges from 54.37 – 55.16% and for average of phosphor digestibility ranges from 62.27 – 61.23%. The analysis of varian showed that there was no significant difference (P&gt;0.05) each treatmentson to consumption and digestibility of calcium and phosphor. In conclusion, The flour of leaf and stem sweet potato can replace up to 30% of the basic ration of pigs in the initial phase of finisher no negative effects on consumption of digestibility calcium and phosphor.Keywords: Leaves and stems of sweet potatoes, ingested calcium phosphorus, pig livestock

Bi-Objective Workflow Scheduling on Heterogeneous Computing Systems Using a Memetic Algorithm

Due to the high power bills and the negative environmental impacts, workflow scheduling with energy consciousness has been an emerging need for modern heterogeneous computing systems. A number of approaches have been developed to find suboptimal schedules through heuristics by means of slack reclamation or trade-off functions. In this article, a memetic algorithm for energy-efficient workflow scheduling is proposed for a quality-guaranteed solution with high runtime efficiency. The basic idea is to retain the advantages of population-based, heuristic-based, and local search methods while avoiding their drawbacks. Specifically, the proposed algorithm incorporates an improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) to explore potential task priorities and allocates tasks to processors by an earliest finish time (EFT)-based heuristic to provide a time-efficient candidate. Then, a local search method integrated with a pruning technique is launched with a low possibility, to exploit the feasible region indicated by the candidate schedule. Experimental results on workflows from both randomly-generated and real-world applications suggest that the proposed algorithm achieves bi-objective optimization, improving makespan, and energy saving by 4.9% and 24.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, it has a low time complexity compared to the similar work HECS.

Why don’t grammaticalization pathways always recur?

AbstractMany grammaticalization pathways recur across languages. A prominent explanation for this is that the properties of lexical items determine their developmental pathways. However, it is unclear why these pathways do notalwaysoccur. In this article, we ask why English did not undergo a cross-linguistically common grammaticalization pathway,finish &gt; anterior. We operationalize this question by testing a theory proposed on results regarding a language that did undergo this change, Spanish, on corpus and experimental data. While Englishfinishconstructions are associated withsomeof the distributional properties of Early Spanishfinish, speakers do not show evidence of conventionally associatingfinishconstructions with a particular type of inference crucial for the grammaticalization of the Spanish anterior. We propose that the non-conventionality of this inference blocks the grammaticalization offinishconstructions in English, demonstrating that some of the black box of language change currently attributed to chance can be explored empirically.

Time Optimization for Workflow Scheduling by Incorporating Level Strategy into Out-Degree

Efficient workflow scheduling plays a critical role in achieving high performance in heterogeneous distributed computing systems. Given its key importance, workflow scheduling has been extensively studied, and various algorithms have been proposed in the literature mainly for systems with homogeneous or heterogeneous processors. Most of the algorithms leverage the average computation cost to prioritize tasks, and few focus on the combination of the level and out-degree of tasks, which both have a considerable impact on scheduling. A new list scheduling algorithm called level and out-degree earliest finish time (LOEFT) is proposed in this paper to address the problem of static workflow scheduling in a heterogeneous computing environment to reduce the workflow execution time. This algorithm has three major phases: task leveling, task prioritization and processor selection. In the task leveling phase, tasks are categorized into different groups based on depth value to ensure data transmission completeness. In the task prioritizing phase, the upward rank value is combined with the out-degree of every task to calculate the heterogeneous priority rank value on different processors and leverage the value to sort all tasks. In the processor selection phase, the selected task is assigned to the processor, which minimizes the former’s earliest finish time. The experimental simulation of randomly generated DAG and real-world application workflows proves that the LOEFT algorithm can significantly reduce the workflow execution time.

Accelerate the Implementation Time of Kadiri University Clinic Constructions Projects Using Critical Path Method (CPM)

The efficiency of project implementation time becomes one of the efforts in optimizing the use of implementation time. CPM is one of the network methods used to determine the critical path of each implementation. This research aims to optimize Time by applying CPM methods in the Kadiri University Clinic construction project in Kediri. The project consists of 2 floors with 12 essential items of work. The implementation time of the project is planned to be complete for 134 days. The data used in this study form a project schedule (Gantt chart). From the data, analysis of the sequence of implementation using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) method and carried out the calculation of earliest start (ES), latest start (LS), earliest finish (EF), and latest finish (LF). Critical paths are known from slack/float calculations and are depicted in the form of network diagrams. From the analyses, it is known that the project can be complete within 71 days. The results were 63 days earlier than planned. With the use of the CPM method in project scheduling, optimal timing and critical implementation are found. So that it can be used as a reference in the performance of the project implementation.

Using a lamb's early-life liveweight as a predictor of carcass quality

The commercial value of lamb carcasses is primarily determined by their weight and quality, with the latter commonly quantified according to muscle coverage and fat depth. The ability to predict these quality scores early in the season could be of substantial value to sheep producers, as this would enable tailored flock management strategies for different groups of animals. Existing methods of carcass quality prediction, however, require either expensive equipment or information immediately before slaughter, leaving them unsuitable as a decision support tool for small to medium-scale enterprises. Using seven-year high-resolution data from the North Wyke Farm Platform, a system-scale grazing trial in Devon, UK, this paper investigates the feasibility of using a lamb's early-life liveweight to predict the carcass quality realised when the animal reaches the target weight. The results of multinomial regression models showed that lambs which were heavier at weaning, at 13 weeks of age, were significantly more likely to have leaner and more muscular carcasses. An economic analysis confirmed that these animals produced significantly more valuable carcasses at slaughter, even after accounting for seasonal variation in lamb price that often favours early finishers. As the majority of heavier-weaned lambs leave the flock before lighter-weaned lambs, an increase in the average weaning weight could also lead to greater pasture availability for ewes in the latter stage of the current season, and thus an enhanced ewe condition and fertility for the next season. All information combined, therefore, a stronger focus on ewes' nutrition before and during lactation was identified as a key to increase system-wide profitability.