Apparent digestibility coefficients of feed ingredients for black carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus

The apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter, crude protein, crude lipid, ash, and gross energy in five test ingredients - fishmeal, meat and bone meal, soybean meal, cornmeal, and brewers yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) - were determined for black carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus (78.3±2.5g), at the Aquaculture Laboratory, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Vietnam. A reference diet and test diets (a 70:30 mixture of the reference diet to test ingredient) were used with 1% chromic oxide (Cr2O3) as an external indicator. Experimental fish were stocked in 500-L composite tanks at a density of 10 fish per tank. Faeces were collected by faecal collection column. The results indicated that the apparent digestibility coefficients of all test ingredient nutrients, except ash, differed statistically (P < 0.05). The apparent digestibility coefficients were 78.4-90.2% for dry matter, 71.2-92.6% for crude protein, 66.0-87.0% for crude lipid, 52.6-61.9% for ash, and 54.1-80.9% for gross energy. Findings from this study will help formulate cost-effective feed for black carp.
http://repository.vnu.edu.vn/handle/VNU_123/34193

Observation of theΛb0→J/ψ pπ−decay

The first observation of the Cabibbo-suppressed decay Λ b → J/ψpπ is reported using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb-1. A prominent signal is observed and the branching fraction relative to the decay mode Λ b → J/ψpK is determined to be B (Λb → J / ψp π-/ B Λ b → J / ψp K- = 0.0824 ± 0.0025 stat ± 0.0042 syst. A search for direct CP violation is performed. The difference in the CP asymmetries between these two decays is found to be A CP (Λb → J / ψp π-) - A CP (Λb → J / ψp K-) = + 5.7 ± 2.4 stat ± 1.2 syst %, which is compatible with CP symmetry at the 2.2σ level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
http://repository.vnu.edu.vn/handle/VNU_123/34194

An experimental investigation on rate sensitivity of fracture-mechanical characteristics in 304 austenitic stainless steel under bending deformation

It is considered that the martensitic transformation in austenitic stainless steel is responsible for its high fracture toughness. A mechanism for fracture mechanical characteristics in the steel at higher rate of deformation might become quite complicated because a quick temperature rise may suppress the martensitic transformation as well as thermal softening. An investigation on fracture-mechanical characteristics of austenitic stainless steel at the higher rate and its rate sensitivity is indispensable. Recently, J-integral of 304 austenitic stainless steel is determined by three-point bending tests at various deflection rates. However, the tests carried out on small specimens might derive some errors for its evaluation because the plane strain condition is not ensured for J-integral. Additionally, the validity of the measured J-integral is not confirmed by other fracture parameters and it is obvious that measured value does not become a critical value of J-integral. In this study, J-integral of the steel is evaluated at different deflection rate by three-point bending tests on larger specimens. As a result, a higher value of J-integral is obtained compared with previous investigation on smaller specimens at the same normalized deflection rate. Additionally, the results indicates that the relationship between value of J-integral and normalized deflection rate is roughly a linear function in a semi-logarithmic plot in the range of normalized deflection rate from 4×10-4 to 10.5/s. The obtained values of the stretch zone width (SZW) are suitable for observation of a positive rate sensitivity of J-integral. Thus, the validity of the results for J-integral is confirmed.
http://repository.vnu.edu.vn/handle/VNU_123/34195

A new integrated fuzzy QFD approach for market segments evaluation and selection

Market segment selection and evaluation are critical marketing activities of all companies. To evaluate and select appropriate market segments, several decision makers and criteria must be involved in the decision process. This study proposes a new integrated fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) to support the market segment selection and evaluation process. The proposed approach identifies the features that the market segments should have ("WHATs"), in order to fit with the company's business strengths ("HOWs"). In the proposed approach, the relative importance of the "WHATs", the "HOWs"-"WHATs" correlation scores, the resulting weights of the "HOWs", and the impact of each potential market segment, are assessed in linguistic values. The functions of the averaged ratings and averaged weights are then defined, and fuzzy TOPSIS is used to obtain the final ranking of alternatives. The computational procedure of the proposed approach is further illustrated through a case study. Finally, this paper compares the proposed approach with another fuzzy QFD approach, demonstrating the advantages of the proposed approach.
http://repository.vnu.edu.vn/handle/VNU_123/34196

Evaluation of the optimal multiplex PCR method for the detection of aspergillus flavus and aspergillus parasiticus on dried peanut

Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus areq the common aflatoxin producing species that usually infect onq foodstuff in their production line from the field to the storageq place such as peanut, corn, cereal, etc., especially in tropicalq country like Vietnam. Aflatoxins which are considered as derivedq secondary metabolites assigned as a group of mycotoxinsq produced by several species of the Aspergillus spp are potentq hepatotoxins, immunosuppression, carcinogen that lead toq mortality or reducing the productivity of farm animals. Thereq has been a demand for effective method to detect these twoq species on dried food. In previous study, a multiplex PCR methodq were designed to improve the detection process of A. flavusq and A. parasiticus and that method showed high sensitivityq and specificity by being applied on artificially infected driedq peanut. In this study, that multiplex PCR method would beq evaluated by testing the presence of A. flavus and A. parasiticusq on natural dried peanut kernels. On this purpose, the presenceq of A. flavus and A. parasiticus on the collected peanut from theq market was determined using two method, the conventionalq culturing method in Institute of Hygiene and Public Healthq (IHPH) and the mentioned multiplex PCR. The efficiency ofq multiplex PCR method would be evaluated by comparing fungiq detection result of two methods using appropriate statisticalq tests. Next, fungal enrichment with distilled water overnightq was applied to increase the detection percentage if the firstq analysis do not get the expected result. The result showed thatq 54% results from PCR method was the same with culturingq method, and after fungal enrichment, this percentage increasedq to 76% which suggested that these two method was notq significantly different with each other. Therefore, this multiplexq PCR method could have more advanced points than theq culturing method in detection of A. flavus and A. parasiticus onq foodstuff.
http://repository.vnu.edu.vn/handle/VNU_123/34198