Use Of Troughs Research Articles

EFFICIENCY AND TECHNOLOGY OF DAIRY SHEEP PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN CASTILLA-LA MANCHA, SPAIN. A METAFRONTIER APPROACH

This paper deals with the efficiency level of cereal-dairy sheep production systems in the Mediterranean Basin. It studies them in the Protected Designation of Origin “Manchego Cheese”, located in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). Previous studies have alerted to the low productivity levels in these farms, suggesting conducting an efficiency analysis. This work evaluates technological levels by means of synthetic indexes. Two different groups were defined. Technical efficiency was estimated using Data Envelopment Analysis with metafrontier models. The higher the technological level, the higher the efficiency level. Low technology farms could increase their production at least around 23% using the technologies of the high-technology group. Thus, it could be wise to apply new technologies, as new feeding techniques, and the use of troughs of cement, dungheaps, flushing and selective breeding. Increase farm size is a way to implement these technologies. Special attention to managerial functions, mainly organisation and planning, is also advisable. The government must improve the agricultural policies. These actions could increase efficiency, resiliency and sustainability of the farms. Keywords: dairy sheep production systems, data envelopment

Tremoring transits: railways, the Royal Observatory and the capitalist challenge to Victorian astronomical science.

Britain's nineteenth-century railway companies traditionally play a central role in histories of the spread of standard Greenwich time. This relationship at once seems to embody a productive relationship between science and capitalism, with regulated time essential to the formation of a disciplined industrial economy. In this narrative, it is not the state, but capitalistic private commerce which fashioned a national time system. However, as this article demonstrates, the collaboration between railway companies and the Royal Greenwich Observatory was far from harmonious. While railways did employ the accurate time the observatory provided, they were also more than happy to compromise the astronomical institution's ability to take the accurate celestial observations that such time depended on. Observing astronomical transits required the use of troughs of mercury to reflect images of stars, but the construction of a railway too near to the observatory threatened to cause vibrations which would make such readings impossible. Through debates over proposed railway lines near the observatory, it becomes clear how important government protection from private interests was to preserving astronomical standards. This article revises our understanding of the role of railway companies in the dissemination of standard time and argues that state intervention was essential to preserving Victorian British astronomical science.

Evidence that 50% of BALQSO Outflows Are Situated at Least 100 pc from the Central Source

Abstract The most robust way for determining the distance of quasar absorption outflows is the use of troughs from ionic excited states. The column density ratio between the excited and resonance states yields the outflow number density. Combined with a knowledge of the outflow’s ionization parameter, a distance from the central source (R) can be determined. Here we report results from two surveys targeting outflows that show troughs from S iv. One survey includes 1091 SDSS and BOSS quasar spectra, and the other includes higher-quality spectra of 13 quasars observed with the Very Large Telescope. Our S iv samples include 38 broad absorption line (BAL) outflows and four mini-BAL outflows. The S iv is formed in the same physical region of the outflow as the canonical outflow-identifying species C iv. Our results show that S iv absorption is only detected in 25% of C iv BAL outflows. The smaller detection fraction is due to the higher total column density (N H) needed to detect S iv absorption. Since R empirically anticorrelates with N H, the results of these surveys can be extrapolated to C iv quasar outflows with lower N H as well. We find that at least 50% of quasar outflows are at distances larger than 100 pc from the central source, and at least 12% are at distances larger than 1000 pc. These results have profound implications for the study of the origin and acceleration mechanism of quasar outflows and their effects on the host galaxy.

Experimental study of small-scale solar wall integrating phase change material

► We study an experimental small-scale Trombe composite solar wall. ► The storage wall is made of phase change material inserted into brick-shaped package. ► Efficiency and thermal behavior of the solar wall are carried out by flux metric measures. ► The 2.5 cm thick latent solar wall (hydrated salt) perform as well as a 15 cm concrete solar wall. ► However, the energy supplied is restituted to the room with a delay more than twice shorter. Solar walls have been studied for decades as a way of heating building from a renewable energy source. A key ingredient of these wall is their storage capacity. However, this increases their weight and volume, which limits theirs integration into existing building. To aleviate this problem, storage mass is replaced by a phase change materials. These allow to store a large amount of energy in a small volume, which brings the possibility of retrofit trough use of light prefabricated module. This article presents an experimental study of a small-scale Trombe composite solar wall. In this case, the phase change material was inserted into the wall in the form of a brick-shaped package. While this material can store more heat than the same volume of concrete (for the same temperature range), it shows a very different thermal behavior under dynamic conditions. A particular attention is focused on the delay between the absorption of solar radiation and the energy supplied to the room. The energy performance of the wall from heat flux measurements and enthalpy balances are also presented.

Um método de organização de etapas de pesquisa com aplicativos online

O artigo apresenta um mtodo de organizao e produo de pesquisa cientfica com base em explorao e integrao de ferramentas online, tais como Zotero, Twitter e Skype. O procedimento desenvolvido baseado em etapas de pesquisa descritas por Umberto Eco (1974) como: seleo de fontes, organizao e planejamento do trabalho, sistematizao de fichas e relatrios e redao. A partir do advento da web semntica a disponibilidade de dados, informaes e conhecimentos na web torna-se ainda mais atraente. A crescente presena de aplicativos online proporcionam novas experincias e possibilidades em explorao, desenvolvimento e compartilhamento de informaes e resultados entre os pesquisadores. Estes fatores juntos oferecem um ambiente frtil para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas colaborativas, alm de possibilitar que processos de buscas, catalogaes e comunicao em equipe tornem-se mais eficientes. O mtodo foi aplicado a dois trabalhos acadmicos simultaneamente. [ Download ]

The influence of season and of providing a water trough on stream use by beef cattle grazing hill-country in New Zealand

Cattle have been implicated in riparian habitat deterioration through riparian bank destruction, and through standing, defecating and urinating in streams. This study was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of locating water trough distant from a stream and encouraging cattle away from riparian areas, and to establish the diurnal and seasonal patterns of cattle behaviour and its effect on riparian areas. Providing water sources distant from the stream might encourage cattle away from riparian areas. Two hill-country fields were used in each season for two consecutive years, and two other fields were used in two of the seasons. Fields were paired, with a trough placed in one of each pair. Each season, placement of troughs was alternated according to a cross-over design. Observations were carried out from 8:00 to 17:30h on alternate days for 1 week each season. There was no difference in stream or trough use across seasons. Over the period of each observation week, herbage quantity declined, and trough use increased, but there was no change in the frequency of stream use. Cows drank from the trough, but the presence of the trough did not influence cattle use of the stream or surrounding area.

Effect of vertical food-trough dividers on the feeding and agonistic behaviour of layer hens.

1. Opaque, vertical dividers were used to create either one or two feeding spaces in front of each cage. Three hens were housed in each 310 x 510 mm cage. 2. The effects of these dividers on feeding, extending head out of the cage front and agonistic behaviour were compared with undivided areas. Body weights were also recorded. 3. Compared with controls (unmodified feeding space), birds with two feeding spaces per cage spent less time feeding and head out, had fewer feeding bouts, received fewer agonistic head pecks overall and weighed less at the end of lay. 4. Access to the food trough was through 5 spaces separated by the vertical wire divisions of the cage front. Regardless of treatment group, most activity at the cage front occurred through the second space in from either side of the cage. 5. The data are discussed in relation to the social controls which may affect trough use, the potential for improving cage design by modifying the design of the feeding area, and the validity of research trials which use food trough dividers to separate treatment groups.

The role of solvent vapour in thin-layer chromatography

The role of solvent vapour in thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was investigated. Unsaturated chambers proved to give better separations than saturated chambers, due to the differences in the amounts of vapour present during development. It was also shown that vapour not originating from the solvent could highly affect the separations. These non-solvent vapours were introduced by making use of troughs. With this trough technique new possibilities for testing the influence of many different liquids become available. The results indicate that the influence of vapours can be a valuable factor in improving TLC separations.