Client-Oriented Blind Quality Metric for High Dynamic Range Stereoscopic Omnidirectional Vision Systems.

A high dynamic range (HDR) stereoscopic omnidirectional vision system can provide users with more realistic binocular and immersive perception, where the HDR stereoscopic omnidirectional image (HSOI) suffers distortions during its encoding and visualization, making its quality evaluation more challenging. To solve the problem, this paper proposes a client-oriented blind HSOI quality metric based on visual perception. The proposed metric mainly consists of a monocular perception module (MPM) and binocular perception module (BPM), which combine monocular/binocular, omnidirectional and HDR/tone-mapping perception. The MPM extracts features from three aspects: global color distortion, symmetric/asymmetric distortion and scene distortion. In the BPM, the binocular fusion map and binocular difference map are generated by joint image filtering. Then, brightness segmentation is performed on the binocular fusion image, and distinctive features are extracted on the segmented high/low/middle brightness regions. For the binocular difference map, natural scene statistical features are extracted by multi-coefficient derivative maps. Finally, feature screening is used to remove the redundancy between the extracted features. Experimental results on the HSOID database show that the proposed metric is generally better than the representative quality metric, and is more consistent with the subjective perception.

Architecture of broiler breeder energy partitioning models.

A robust model that estimates the ME intake over broiler breeder lifetime is essential for formulating diets with optimum nutrient levels. The experiment was conducted as a randomized controlled trial with 40 Ross 708 broiler breeder pullets reared on 1 of 10 target growth trajectories, which were designed with 2 levels of cumulative BW gain in prepubertal growth phase and 5 levels of timing of growth around puberty. This study investigated the effect of growth pattern on energy efficiency of birds and tested the effects of dividing data into daily, 4-d, weekly, 2-wk, and 3-wk periods and the inclusion of random terms associated with individual maintenance ME and ADG requirements, and age on ME partitioning model fit and predictive performance. Model [I] was: MEId = a × BWb + c × ADGp + d × ADGn + e × EM + ε, where MEId was daily ME intake (kcal/d); BW in kg; ADGp was positive ADG; ADGn was negative ADG (g/d); EM was egg mass (g/d); ε was the model residual. Models [II to IV] were nonlinear mixed models based on the model [I] with inclusion of a random term for individual maintenance requirement, age, and ADG, respectively. Model [II] - 3 wk was chosen as the most parsimonious based on lower autocorrelation bias, closer fit of the estimates to the actual data (lower model MSE and closer R2 to 1), and greater predictive performance among the models. Estimated ME partitioned to maintenance in model [II] - 3 wk was 100.47 ± 7.43 kcal/kg0.56, and the ME requirement for ADGp, ADGn, and EM were 3.49 ± 0.37; 3.16 ± 3.91; and 2.96 ± 0.13 kcal/g, respectively. Standard treatment had lower residual heat production (RHP; -0.68 kcal/kg BW0.56) than high early growth treatment (0.79 kcal/kg BW0.56), indicating greater efficiency in utilizing the ME consumed. Including random term associated with individual maintenance ME in a 3-wk chunk size provided a robust, biologically sound life-time energy partitioning model for breeders.

Using an artificial neural network to predict the probability of oviposition events of precision-fed broiler breeder hens.

Identifying daily oviposition events for individual broiler breeders is important for bird management. Identifying non-laying birds in a flock that might be caused by improper nutrition or diseases can guide diet changes or disease treatments for these individuals. Oviposition depends on follicle maturation and egg formation, and follicle maturation can be variable. As such, the day and time of oviposition events of individual birds in a free-run flock can be hard to predict. Based on a precision feeding (PF) system that can record the feeding activity of individual birds, a recent study reported a machine learning model to predict daily egg-laying events of broiler breeders. However, there were 2 limitations in that study: 1) It could only be used to identify daily egg-laying events on a subsequent day; 2) The prediction outputs that were binary labels were unable to indicate more details among the outputs with the same label. To improve the previous approach, the current study aimed to predict and output the probability of daily oviposition events occurring using a specific time point in 1 day. In the current study, 706 egg-laying events recorded by nest boxes with radio frequency identification of hens and 706 randomly selected no-egg-laying events were used. The anchor point was newly defined in the current study as a specific time point in 1 day, and 26 features around the anchor point were created for all events (706 egg-laying events and 706 no-egg-laying events). A feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) model was built for prediction. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.9409, indicating that the model had an outstanding classification performance. The ANN model could predict oviposition events on the current day, and the output was a probability that could be informative to indicate the likelihood of an oviposition event for an individual breeder. In situations where total egg production was known for a group, the ANN model could predict the probability of daily oviposition events occurring of all individual birds and then rank them to choose those most likely to have laid an egg.

Comparison of in vitro digestibility and chemical composition among four crop straws treated by Pleurotus ostreatus.

OBJECTIVE: The effects of Pleurotus ostreatus on the feed utilization improvement of broad bean stalks (BBS), rape straw (RS), paddy straw (PS) and corn stalk (CS) was examined. METHODS: The four roughages were co-cultured with Pleurotus ostreatus. The chemical composition; enzyme activities of laccase, carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) and xylanase; carbohydrate and protein fractions (based on CNCPS) were assessed at different days after inoculation (7, 14, 21, 28 d) and un-inoculated roughages (control, 0 d). The digestibility of nutrient compenentscomponents and the gas production of roughage with various incubation times were monitored at 0, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 h using an in vitro ruminal fermentation method. RESULTS: A higher CMCase activity (0.1039 U/mL) and earlier time to peak (14 d) were detected in Pleurotus ostreatus cultured with CS (P < 0.05). Significantly, the incubation length-dependent responses of cumulative gas production were observed from 24 to 72 hours post fermentation (P < 0.05), and these incubation length-dependent effects on cumulative gas production of PS and CS were appeared earlier (24 h) for PS and CS than those (48 h) for BBS and RS (P < 0.05). The fast-degradable carbohydrate (CA) content for all four roughages significantly increased over time (P < 0.05). Nonetheless, increased degradation efficiency for CA treated with Pleurotus ostreatus was detected at both 21 and 28 days of incubation (P < 0.05). With the exception of PS (P < 0.05), there were no significant difference among the roughages (P > 0.05) in slowly-degradable carbohydrate (CB2) at different incubation times (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Assessment of the alterations in chemical composition, CNCPS system fractions, and the fermentation kinetics after biological pretreatment may yield valuable database for evaluating the biological pretreatment of Pleurotus ostreatus in ruminants feed.

A novel fluorescence reporter system for the characterization of dairy goat mammary epithelial cells.

Goat mammary epithelial cells (GMECs) are a useful model to understand the physiological function of mammary glands and to assess the efficiency of mammary-specific vectors. The aim of this study was to develop an effective and convenient way to evaluate the secretory capacity of GMECs in primary culture. In this study, we developed a reporter system using fluorescent proteins driven by the CSN2 (Capra hircus beta-casein) gene promoter to detect the secretory capacity of GMECs. Additionally, we evaluated the efficiency of the reporter system by determining the expression of cytoskeletal proteins and beta-casein protein. The results suggest that this reporter system provides an easy, convenient and effective method to detect the function of milk synthesis in GMECs. Primary cultures of GMECs were homogeneous and retained the function of milk synthesis, prompting their usefulness as a model for further studies.

Scd1 mammary-specific vector constructed and overexpressed in goat fibroblast cells resulting in an increase of palmitoleic acid and oleic acid.

Stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (Scd1) is a rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids. Overexpression of Scd1 in transgenic animals would modify the nutritional value of ruminant-derived foods by increasing the monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and decreasing the saturated fatty acid (SFA) content. The aim of this study was to develop an effective Scd1 vector that is specifically expressed in dairy goat mammary glands. We successfully amplified the goat full length Scd1 cDNA and evaluated its activity in goat ear skin-derived fibroblast cells (GEFCs) by lipid analysis. In addition, we constructed a mammary gland-specific expression vector and confirmed efficient expression of Scd1 in goat mammary epithelial cells (GMECs) by qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Fatty acid analysis showed that Scd1-overexpression resulted in an increase in levels of palmitoleic acid (16:1n-7) and oleic acid (18:1n-9), from 1.73 ± 0.02% to 2.54 ± 0.02% and from 27.25 ± 0.13% to 30.37 ± 0.04%, respectively (both p<0.01) and the ratio of MUFA to SFA was increased. This work lays a foundation for the generation of Scd1 transgenic goats.

Production of myostatin-targeted goat by nuclear transfer from cultured adult somatic cells.

Myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor-ß family, acts as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle mass. In this study, myostatin-targeted caprine fibroblasts were obtained and subjected to SCNT to determine whether myostatin-knockout goats could be created. Fibroblasts from a 2-mo-old goat were transfected with a myostatin-targeted vector to prepare transgenic donor cells for nuclear transfer. After serum-starvation (for synchronization of the cell cycle), the percentage of transgenic fibroblasts in the G(0)/G(1) phase increased (66.2% vs. 82.9%; P < 0.05) compared with that in the control group, whereas the apoptosis rate and mitochondrial membrane potential were unaffected (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences between in vivo- and in vitro-matured oocytes as recipient cytoplasts for rates of fusion (86.5% vs. 78.4%), pregnancy (21.6% vs. 16.7%), or kidding (2.7% vs. 0%). One female kid from an in vivo-matured oocyte was born, but died a few hours later. Microsatellite analysis and polymerase chain reaction identification confirmed that this kid was genetically identical to the donor cells. Based on Western blot analysis, myostatin of the cloned kid was not expressed compared with that of nontransgenic kids. In conclusion, SCNT using myostatin-targeted 2-mo-old goat fibroblasts as donors has potential as a method for producing myostatin-targeted goats.

Efficiency of donor cell preparation and recipient oocyte source for production of transgenic cloned dairy goats harboring human lactoferrin.

The objective was to investigate the effects of the transgenic donor cell synchronization method, oocyte sources, and other factors, on production of hLF-gene nucleus transfer dairy goats. Three transfected cell lines from ear biopsies from three 3-mo-old Saanen dairy goats (designated Number 1, Number 2, and Number 3, respectively) were selected as karyoplast donors for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) after detailed identification (including PCR and sequencing of PCR products). In donor cell cycle synchronization studies, the apoptosis rate of hLF transgenic fibroblasts was not different (P > 0.05) after 3 days of serum starvation or 2 days of contact inhibition. Additionally, there was no effect (P > 0.05) on developmental capacity of reconstructed embryos; however, the kidding rate of recipients in the serum starvation group was higher than that in the contact inhibition group (18 vs. 0%, respectively). The production efficiency of the transgenic cloned goats using donor cells from the Number 1 dairy goat cell line was higher than those using the Number 2 and the Number 3 cell lines (kidding rates were 18, 2, and 0%, respectively, P < 0.05). The oocyte source did not significantly affect the pregnancy rate of hLF-transgenic cloned dairy goats, but more fetuses were aborted when using in vitro matured oocytes compared to in vivo matured oocytes. In summary, utilizing transfected 3-mo-old dairy goat fibroblasts as donor cells, seven live offspring were produced, and the hLF gene was successfully integrated. This study provided additional insights into preparation of donor cells and recipient oocytes for producing transgenic cloned goats through SCNT.