Background: The use of processed secondary data for health monitoring of fattening pigs has been established in various areas, such as the use of antibiotics or in the context of meat inspection. Standardized scores were calculated based on several sources of production data and can be used to describe animal health in a large collective of pig units. In the present study, the extent to which these scores are related to different farm characteristics and management decisions were investigated. In addition, slaughter scores were compared with the results of a veterinary examination on the farms.
Results: The comparison of the results of the uni- and multifactorial analyses revealed that almost all of the examined factors play a role in at least one of the scores when considered individually. However, when various significant influencing factors were taken into account at any one time, most of the variables lost their statistical significance due to confounding effects. In particular, production data such as production costs or daily feed intake remained in the final models of the scores on mortality, average daily gain and external lesions. Regarding the second part of the investigation, a basic technical correlation between the slaughter scores and the on-farm indicators could be established via principal component analysis. The modelling of the slaughter scores by the on-farm indicators showed that the score on external lesions could be represented by equivalent variables recorded on the farm (e.g., lesions caused by tail or ear biting).
Conclusions: It has been demonstrated that the examined health scores are influenced by various farm and management characteristics. However, when several factors are taken into account, confounding occurs in some cases, which must be considered by consultants. Additionally, it was shown that on-farm examination content is related to the scores based on equivalent findings from slaughter pigs.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40813-021-00225-y | DOI Listing |
Sci Rep
December 2024
Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Central to the development of universal learning systems is the ability to solve multiple tasks without retraining from scratch when new data arrives. This is crucial because each task requires significant training time. Addressing the problem of continual learning necessitates various methods due to the complexity of the problem space.
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December 2024
Department of Theoretical Electrical Engineering and Diagnostics of Electrical Equipment, Institute of Electrodynamics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Beresteyskiy, 56, Kyiv-57, 03680, Kyiv, Ukraine.
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December 2024
Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 38541, South Korea.
Natural honey is enriched with essential and beneficial nutrients. This study aimed to investigate the melliferous flora microscopic techniques and assess the biochemical properties of honey. Flavonoid and phenolic contents in honey samples were analyzed via colorimetric and Folin-Ciocalteu methods and the alpha-amylase, reducing power, and minerals using Pull's and spectroscopy methods.
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December 2024
School of Environmental Science, The University of Shiga Prefecture, Hassakacho, Hikone, 2500, 522-8533, Japan.
Mangrove forests are increasingly recognized as vital blue carbon ecosystems due to their high carbon sequestration capacity, primarily through the accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC). Recent research highlights that, in addition to SOC, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), particularly in the form of bicarbonate (HCO₃⁻), plays a crucial role in carbon sequestration by being exported from these ecosystems to adjacent coastal waters. This study aims to investigate the previously unexamined mechanisms behind bicarbonate production in mangrove soils.
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December 2024
Department of Architecture, Rafsanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rafsanjan, Iran.
The advent of smart cities has brought about a paradigm shift in urban management and citizen engagement. By leveraging technological advancements, cities are now able to collect and analyze extensive data to optimize service delivery, allocate resources efficiently, and enhance the overall well-being of residents. However, as cities become increasingly interconnected and data-dependent, concerns related to data privacy and security, as well as citizen participation and representation, have surfaced.
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