• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.682-692
• /
• 2007

This study presents an automatic system to predict parturition time in the crated sows. The system relies on ultrasonic transducers mounted from above along the length of the crate. Using a 40 kHz time of flight (TOF) single envelope wave, the momentary distances between the sensors are measured. Therefore, the local momentary height of the sow and the momentary posture, i.e. standing posture (SDP), kneeling posture (KP), sitting posture (STP) and lateral lying posture (LLP) are determined. Crated sows change their postures from standing to lying and vice versa which follows a characteristic pattern. As parturition approaches, sows exhibit uneasiness, restlessness and the stand up sequence (SUS, the posture transition from LLP to SDP) rate increases because of labor pains. In time series, the SUS rate demonstrates a peak and it happens approximately 0-12 h before parturition. In this paper, the basic parturition threshold value method (BPTVM) and the same hour method (SHM) are proposed for predicting parturition, both of which are based on the SUS rate. The BPTVM mainly detects the peak of the SUS rate. As the SUS rate exceeds the threshold value, the parturition becomes predictable. Moreover, the SHM calculates the difference in the SUS rates between a particular time of day and the corresponding time of the preceding day. Compared to the BPTVM, the SHM can eliminate the circadian rhythm of the SUS rate influenced by feeding behavior. Using the SHM the parturition can be approximately predicted within hours. In an attempt to define the threshold parameters of predicting parturition, a data set with 32 sows of the SUS rate are used to estimate assumable predicting probability. The results show the assumable probability of the parturition prediction within 9 h is 96.9% for the SHM and 84.4% for the BPTVM. Moreover, the SHM can even reach a 75% probability of prediction within three hours of parturition. We conclude that the SHM is more accurate and is more useful for parturition time prediction. When parturition is detected, the proposed algorithm generates a warning signal which can inform human personnel to protect the mother and newborn piglets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.976-982
• /
• 2007

This study investigated whether supplemental Cu, Fe, Zn, and Mn are needed in a practical diet for pullets. Four hundred and twenty females of an egg-laying strain (1-d-old, Lohmann Brown Layer) were randomly distributed into 4 groups, consisting of 7 replicates of 15 birds each. During the 18-week experimental period, chicks were given three basal diets in sequence, each with single or multiple Mn, Zn and Cu supplementation to improve the mineral balance gradually. In the Control, no Mn, Zn, and Cu were added; in the single Mn supplemented group (sMn) Mn was added to 120, 60, and 60 mg/kg for 1-6, 7-12, and 13-18 weeks of age, respectively; in the multiple Mn and Zn supplemented group (mMnZn), Mn was added to 180, 90, and 90 mg/kg and Zn was added to 120, 105, and 105 mg/kg for 1-6, 7-12, and 13-18 weeks of age, respectively; in the multiple Mn, Zn, Cu supplemented group (mMnZnCu), Mn, Zn, and Cu were added to the same multiple of basal Fe concentration relative to NRC (1994) recommendations. Energy and protein metabolizability were determined by subtracting energy/protein intake by energy/protein excretion (from both feces and urine) and dividing by energy/protein intake. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in terms of feed intake, final body weight or tibia length throughout the experiment. Optimal growth performance was observed in the Control, while adding trace minerals to basal diets tended to result in decreased productive performance. Protein metabolizability was increased by mMnZn and mMnZnCu treatments, but energy metabolizability was not affected. Concentrations of Mn, Zn, Cu in excreta varied greatly related to dietary content, and the retentions of Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn were all increased due to the improvement of mineral balance. Based on these results, it is suggested that the concentrations of Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn in typical basal diets used in this study were adequate for normal growth for pullets from 1 to 18 weeks of age.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.588-596
• /
• 2018

An endo-${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase gene, cel9K, was cloned using the shot-gun method from Paenibacillus sp. X4, which was isolated from alpine soil. The gene was 2,994 bp in length, encoding a protein of 997 amino acid residues with a predicted signal peptide composed of 32 amino acid residues. Cel9K was a multimodular enzyme, and the molecular mass and theoretical pI of the mature Cel9K were 103.5 kDa and 4.81, respectively. Cel9K contains the GGxxDAGD, PHHR, GAxxGG, YxDDI, and EVxxDYN motifs found in most glycoside hydrolase family 9 (GH9) members. The protein sequence showed the highest similarity (88%) with the cellulase of Bacillus sp. BP23 in comparison with the enzymes with reported properties. The enzyme was purified by chromatography using HiTrap Q, CHT-II, and HiTrap Butyl HP. Using SDS-PAGE/activity staining, the molecular mass of Cel9K was estimated to be 93 kDa, which is a truncated form produced by the proteolytic cleavage of its C-terminus. Cel9K was optimally active at pH 5.5 and $50^{\circ}C$ and showed a half-life of 59.2 min at $50^{\circ}C$. The CMCase activity was increased to more than 150% in the presence of 2 mM $Na^+$, $K^+$, and $Ba^{2+}$, but decreased significantly to less than 50% by $Mn^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$. The addition of Cel9K to a commercial enzyme set (Celluclast 1.5L + Novozym 188) increased the saccharification of the pretreated reed and rice straw powders by 30.4% and 15.9%, respectively. The results suggest that Cel9K can be used to enhance the enzymatic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to reducing sugars as an additive.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.477-502
• /
• 2007

The Aconitum alboviolaceum Kom. complex includes four controversial species described from Korea; A. albouiolaceum, A. pseudolaeue, A. longecassidatum, and A. quelpaertense. The main objective of this study was to determine the taxonomic identities and systematic relationships among the species in the A. albouiolaceum complex based on morphology, numerical analyses and DNA sequence analysis. In the present study, variations in the principal morphological characters and chloroplast DNA noncoding region sequences (psbA-trnH IGS, trnL intron, and trnL-trnF IGS) were examined for 95 individuals from 20 populations. Also, neighbor-joining analysis was adopted to infer their relationships. Morphological variation appeared to be considerably high but not to be related to geographic distribution. These morphological results suggest that reevaluation of key morphological characters are needed for the proper taxonomic treatment of the complex. The length of psbA-trnH IGS region ranged from 241 to 250 bp, that of the trnL intron from 526 to 532 bp, and that of the trnL-trnF IGS region from 466 to 472 by in all taxa. Nine haplotypes were recognized from the analysis. Seven populations shared more than two haplotypes, while other thirteen populations shared only one haplotype. In the phylogenetic analysis, the nine haplotypes formed four groups, separated A. sibiricum, one of the sister groups of the complex. There also was no distinct grouping pattern supporting the species and populations observed. These results suggest that introgression or speciation might have been involved in the formation of taxa of A. alboviolaceum complex.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.191-196
• /
• 2013

This study was aimed for development of a useful genes that has a transcript expressional specificity in the early embryonic stage of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. We constructed and analyzed a full-length cDNA library from silkworm's eggs which after a lapse of 2 ~ 6 hours post oviposit. A total 960 clones were randomly selected, and the 5' ends of the inserts were sequenced to generate 652 expressed sequence tags(EST). 334 unique ESTs were generated after the assembly of 652 ESTs. The annotation of 334 unique ESTs by BLAST search revealed that 156(47%) of the sequences represented known genes, whereas 178(53%) of the sequences has no matches in the database. Of the 156 known genes, the most abundant genes were heat shock protein hsp20.8 gene(12 times) and ubiqutin-like protein gene(11 times). The functional groups of these ESTs with matches in the database were constructed according to their putative molecular functions. Among thirteen functional categories, the largest groups were protein synthesis(9.6%) and cellular organization( 8.1%). Further defined studies on molecular functions and biological roles of their promoters will give us wellfined information and its application.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.539-549
• /
• 1999

In this paper, the bit error rare (BER) performance of DS/CDMA DQPSK communication system in the presence of multi access interference, impulsive noise and Nakagami fading is investigated. The DS/CDMA DQPSK communication system adopts Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) diversity reception and error correcting BCH code technique to enhance system performance. Using the derived error probability equation, the error rate performance of DS/CDMA DQPSK communication system has been evaluated and shown in figures to discuss as a function of impulsive index(A), Gaussian noise to impulsive noise power ratio($\Gamma$'), multi access interference(Κ), Nakagami fading parameter(m), the number of diversity branch (Ｌ), the number of error correction symbol (t), PN code sequence length(N) and $E_b/N_0$. The error performance of DS/CDMA-MDPSK signals improve by adopting MRC diversity and BCH(15,7) coding technique in the environment of impulsive noise plus Nagakami fading. From the results, we known that proposed system is affected by multi access interference, impulsive noise and Nakagami fading in radio communication system environment. Also, BER performance of DS/CDMA DQPSK communication system cam be improved increasing either the power of desired signal or the value of Gaussian noise to impulsive noise power ratio. And BCH(15,7) code technique is more effective to restrain the affection of multi access, interference, impulsive noise and Nakagami fading in DS/CDMA DQPSK communication system than MRC diversity reception technique.

• Journal of IKEEE
• /
• v.2 no.2 s.3
• /
• pp.278-284
• /
• 1998

This paper describes a l0b CMOS A/D converter (ADC) for HDTV applications. The proposed ADC adopts a typical multi-step pipelined architecture. The proposed circuit design techniques are as fo1lows: A selective channel-length adjustment technique for a bias circuit minimizes the mismatch of the bias current due to the short channel effect by supply voltage variations. A power reduction technique for a high-speed two-stage operational amplifier decreases the power consumption of amplifiers with wide bandwidths by turning on and off bias currents in the suggested sequence. A typical capacitor scaling technique optimizes the chip area and power dissipation of the ADC. The proposed ADC is designed and fabricated in s 0.8 um double-poly double-metal n-well CMOS technology. The measured differential and integral nonlinearities of the prototype ADC show less than ${\pm}0.6LSB\;and\;{\pm}2.0LSB$, respectively. The typical ADC power consumption is 119 mW at 3 V with a 40 MHz sampling rate, and 320 mW at 5 V with a 50 MHz sampling rate.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.51 no.5
• /
• pp.511-517
• /
• 2013

Species identification using DNA sequences is the basis for DNA taxonomy. In this study, we sequenced the ribosomal large-subunit RNA gene sequences (3,037-3,061 bp) in length of 13 Chinese Theileria stocks that were infective to cattle and sheep. The complete 28S rRNA gene is relatively difficult to amplify and its conserved region is not important for phylogenetic study. Therefore, we selected the D2-D3 region from the complete 28S rRNA sequences for phylogenetic analysis. Our analyses of 28S rRNA gene sequences showed that the 28S rRNA was useful as a phylogenetic marker for analyzing the relationships among Theileria spp. in ruminants. In addition, the D2-D3 region was a short segment that could be used instead of the whole 28S rRNA sequence during the phylogenetic analysis of Theileria, and it may be an ideal DNA barcode.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.379-383
• /
• 2018

The present study was performed with morphological and molecular analysis (cox1 and nad1 mitochondrial genes) to identify the proglottids of spirometrid tapeworm found in the stool of an African lion, Panthera leo, in the Serengeti plain of Tanzania. A strand of tapeworm strobila, about 75 cm in length, was obtained in the stool of a male African lion in the Serengeti National Park ($34^{\circ}$ 50' E, $02^{\circ}$ 30' S), Tanzania, in February 2012. The morphological features of the adult worm examined exhibited 3 uterine coils with a bow tie appearance and adopted a diagonal direction in the second turn. The posterior uterine coils are larger than terminal uterine ball and the feature of uteri are swirling rather than spirally coiling. The sequence difference between the Spirometra species (Tanzania origin) and S. erinaceieuropaei (GenBank no. KJ599680) was 9.4% while those of S. decipiens (GenBank no. KJ599679) differed by 2.1% in the cox1 and nad1 genes. Phylogenetic tree topologies generated using the 2 analytic methods were identical and presented high level of confidence values for the 3 major branches of the 3 Spirometra species in the cox1 gene. The morphological and molecular findings obtained in this study were nearly coincided with those of S. ranarum. Therefore, we can know for the first time that the African lion, Panthera leo, is to the definitive host of this tapeworm.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.323-334
• /
• 2020

Lysin motif (LysM) proteins are reported to be necessary for the virulence and immune response suppression in many herbaceous plant pathogens, while far less is documented in woody plant pathogens. In this study, we preliminarily characterized the molecular function of a LysM protein LtLysM1 in woody plant pathogen Lasiodiplodia theobromae. Transcriptional profiles revealed that LtLysM1 is highly expressed at infectious stages, especially at 36 and 48 hours post inoculation. Amino acid sequence analyses revealed that LtLysM1 was a putative glycoprotein with 10 predicted N-glycosylation sites and one LysM domain. Pathogenicity tests showed that overexpressed transformants of LtLysM1 displayed increased virulence on grapevine shoots in comparison with that of wild type CSS-01s, and RNAi transformants of LtLysM1 exhibited significantly decreased lesion length when compared with that of wild type CSS-01s. Moreover, LtLysM1 was confirmed to be a secreted protein by a yeast signal peptide trap assay. Transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana together with protein immunoblotting confirmed that LtLysM1 was an N-glycosylated protein. In contrast to previously reported LysM protein Slp1 and OsCEBiP, LtLysM1 molecule did not interact with itself based on yeast two hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation assays. These results indicate that LtLysM1 is a secreted protein and functions as a critical virulence factor during the disease symptom development in woody plants.