Effect of concrete slats, three mat types and out-wintering pads on performance and welfare of finishing beef steers.

Background: The objective was to investigate the effect of placing mats on concrete slatted floors on performance, behaviour, hoof condition, dirt scores, physiological and immunological variables of beef steers, and to compare responses with animals on out-wintering pads. Continental crossbred beef steers [n = 360; mean (±SD) initial live weight 539 kg (42.2)] were blocked by breed and live weight and randomly assigned to one of five treatments; (1) Concrete slats alone, (2) Mat 1 (Natural Rubber structure) (Durapak Rubber Products), (3) Mat 2 (Natural rubber structure) (EasyFix), (4) Mat 3 (modified ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam structure) and (5) Out-wintering pads (OWP's).

Development of a vessel-mimicking material for use in anatomically realistic Doppler flow phantoms.

Polyvinyl alcohol cryogel (PVA-C) is presented as a vessel-mimicking material for use in anatomically realistic Doppler flow phantoms. Three different batches of 10% wt PVA-C containing (i) PVA-C alone, (ii) PVA-C with antibacterial agent and (iii) PVA-C with silicon carbide particles were produced, each with 1-6 freeze-thaw cycles. The resulting PVA-C samples were characterized acoustically (over a range 2.