Investigation of nitrogen loss during laboratory scale fixed-bed drying of digestate.

In addition to the drying kinetics of digestate, a comprehensive knowledge is necessary on nitrogen loss and ammonia emissions in order to appropriately develop and design a dryer. Otherwise, these phenomena would result in environmental concerns and reduce the nutrient value of digestate. Expectedly, drying parameters considerably affect drying time.

Methane prediction based on individual or groups of milk fatty acids for dairy cows fed rations with or without linseed.

Milk fatty acids (MFA) are a proxy for the prediction of CH emission from cows, and prediction differs with diet. Our objectives were (1) to compare the effect of diets on the relation between MFA profile and measured CH production, (2) to predict CH production based on 6 data sets differing in the number and type of MFA, and (3) to test whether additional inclusion of energy-corrected milk (ECM) yield or dry matter intake (DMI) as explanatory variables improves predictions. Twenty dairy cows were used.

Monitoring the body temperature of cows and calves using video recordings from an infrared thermography camera.

The aim of this study was to assess the variability of temperatures measured by a video-based infrared camera (IRC) in comparison to rectal and vaginal temperatures. The body surface temperatures of cows and calves were measured contactless at different body regions using videos from the IRC. Altogether, 22 cows and 9 calves were examined.

Ammonia emissions from a broiler farm: spatial variability of airborne concentrations in the vicinity and impact on adjacent woodland.

Agricultural NH(3) emissions affect air quality and influence the nitrogen cycle. In the subject study, NH(3) emissions from a broiler farm and the resulting atmospheric concentrations in the immediate vicinity during three growing cycles have been quantified. Additionally, vegetation along a transect in an adjacent woodland was analysed.

Antigenic properties of the human immunodeficiency virus transmembrane glycoprotein during cell-cell fusion.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) entry is triggered by interactions between a pair of heptad repeats in the gp41 ectodomain, which convert a prehairpin gp41 trimer into a fusogenic three-hairpin bundle. Here we examined the disposition and antigenic nature of these structures during the HIV-mediated fusion of HeLa cells expressing either HIV(HXB2) envelope (Env cells) or CXCR4 and CD4 (target cells). Cell-cell fusion, indicated by cytoplasmic dye transfer, was allowed to progress for various lengths of time and then arrested.