Academic literature on the topic 'Blackbelt'

Purpose The Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruptions in many businesses. A difficult process has been experienced for businesses caught unprepared for this situation. The purpose of the study, the difficulties experienced in the business have been mapped in terms of crisis management. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, crisis management strategies have been discussed in terms of lean six sigma (LSS) strategies. Afterward, LSS strategies have been weighted with the spherical fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method, which has been recently introduced to the literature (Gündogdu and Kahraman, 2020). While weighting has been done with the spherical fuzzy AHP method, three experts in the field of LSS at the master blackbelt level have been studied. Findings The Covid-19 process has caused the usual processes of businesses to change. Businesses do not have enough time to adapt their business processes in the Covid-19 process. To eliminate waste and time in the Covid-19 process, the lean methodology was used. At the same time, quality deficiencies have been tried to be eliminated with the six sigma methodology. Therefore, the six sigma methodology and lean techniques should be considered together. With LSS, the adaptation of this process has been wanted to be accelerated. In this context, the criteria in the Covid-19 process were prioritized and losses were reduced in accordance with the LSS methodology. In this study, the most important criterion during the covid-19 pandemic has been determined as “responding to the changing needs of customers” and the least important criterion has been determined as “communication with stakeholders in enterprises.” Research limitations/implications This study has been applied the Covid-19 pandemics. So, it has been evaluated related to these specific criteria. Practical implications Covid-19 crisis management was examined for the first time within the scope of the LSS methodology. The criteria in the Covid-19 process were determined by six sigma expert master black belts. For the first time, spherical fuzzy AHP, one of the multi-criteria decision methods, has been applied to the Covid-19 process. Originality/value This study has been aimed to create a roadmap to apply LSS steps in businesses against a possible second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, it is thought that the study will fill the following gaps in the literature: Covid-19 crisis management was examined for the first time within the scope of LSS methodology. The criteria in the Covid-19 process were determined by six sigma expert master black belts. For the first time, spherical fuzzy AHP, one of the multi-criteria decision methods, has been applied to the Covid-19 process.

El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar el efecto del genotipo, sexo, tipo de parto y año de nacimiento sobre el comportamiento productivo de corderos de razas de pelo (Blackbelly, Katahdin y Pelibuey) y cruces (Blackbelly x Dorper-Pelibuey) en un sistema de producción con pastoreo intensivo en la zona de Güémez, Tamaulipas, México. Se analizaron datos de 290 partos, obtenidos en cuatro épocas de parición y analizados con un modelo lineal. El peso al nacimiento fue mayor en Katahdin (3.75 kg) y en corderos de parto simple (3.74 kg), mientras que el sexo del cordero no produjo diferencia significativa. La ganancia de peso predestete fue mayor en los corderos Blackbelly x Dorper-Pelibuey (0.217 g), al igual que el peso al destete (16.65 kg).

El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar el efecto del complemento alimenticio en el comportamiento productivo postdestete de corderas Pelibuey x Blackbelly manejadas bajo condiciones de pastoreo. Veintiocho corderas Pelibuey x Blackbelly se asignaron a uno de dos tratamientos: 1) complementación alimenticia baja: 0,18 Mcal de energía metabolizable (EM) cordera-1d-1 y 10,5 g de proteína bruta (PB) cordera-1d-1 o 2) complementación alimenticia media: 0,54 Mcal de EM y 31,6 g de PB cordera-1d-1, durante 70 días. La complementación alimenticia no afectó (p>0,05) al peso corporal y la ganancia diaria de peso (GDP). Se concluye, que en corderas Pelibuey x Blackbelly en pastoreo, la complementación alimenticia media no mejora la GDP con respecto a la complementación alimenticia baja.

Los objetivos fueron caracterizar los perfiles de LH y testosterona (T) y la respuesta a GnRH en corderos de pelo. Estudio 1: se utilizaron corderos Blackbelly (n=4), Pelibuey (n=5), Blackbelly x Pelibuey (Cruzas; n=8). A las 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 y 24 semanas de edad, se obtuvieron muestras de sangre cada 15 min durante 6 h, para caracterizar los perfiles de LH y T. No hubo diferencia entre genotipos a ninguna edad, para ninguna variable de LH y T (P>0.05); el efecto de la edad fue significativo (P<0.05): la concentración promedio de LH fue menor en la semana 2 (P<0.05), alcanzó el valor más alto en la 12, y disminuyó en la 16 (P<0.05). La concentración promedio de T aumentó constantemente entre 2 y 24 semanas (P<0.05). Estudio 2: se utilizaron corderos Blackbelly (n=4), Pelibuey (n=4), Cruzas (n=4). A las mismas edades, los corderos se desafiaron con GnRH (3, 9, 27 ng•kg-1 peso) y se obtuvieron muestras de sangre entre -15 y 180 min. En las semanas 8 y 12, la respuesta de LH fue mayor en los corderos Pelibuey, en comparación con Blackbelly. La respuesta de T tendió a ser diferente entre genotipos (P<0.10), con Blackbelly mostrando la menor respuesta. En conclusión, el desarrollo de los perfiles de LH y T no fue diferente entre genotipos, pero los corderos Pelibuey presentaron mayor capacidad de respuesta a GnRH en las semanas 8 y 12; es necesario determinar si estas diferencias tienen implicaciones sobre la capacidad reproductiva de los animales adultos.

Se comparó la calidad del semen refrigerado de carneros Assaf y Blackbelly utilizados en inseminación artificial y criados en la costa central del Perú. El semen fue colectado con vagina artificial y diluido en Tris-fructosa-yema de huevo. Se determinó la motilidad individual progresiva, la integridad de membrana mediante la prueba hipoosmótica (HOST) y la concentración espermática a través de la cámara de Neubauer a las dos horas de la refrigeración. Los valores porcentuales fueron transformados a ArcSeno %. Se realizaron pruebas de «t» Student para determinar diferencias de medias independientes entre las variables determinadas, según la raza. La motilidad individual progresiva fue de 82.36 ± 6.66 y 83.30 ± 4.92% (p>0.05) y la motilidad masal fue de 4.28 ± 0.45 y 4.06 ± 0.33 (p<0.05) para los carneros Assaf y Blackbelly, respectivamente. La integridad de la membrana espermática fue de 83.50 ± 2.77% para Assaf y 82.56 ± 3.78% para Blackbelly (p<0.05). La concentración espermática y los porcentajes de espermatozoides vivos y anormales fueron similares en ambas razas.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2005.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 61 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-61).

Doctor of Philosophy
The impact of the variability in timber properties has been a challenge for companies involved in drying timber, which have to handle these variations and at the same time meet the requirements stated in the Australian/New Zealand Standard for the assessment of dried timber quality (2001). The definition of quality considered in this study is to both minimize the dispersion of the final moisture contents in dried timber boards, and to reduce cracking/checking. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the timber properties of plantation timber appear to be more variable compared with the properties of old growth or regrowth timber. Therefore, this thesis focuses on measuring the amount of variability of timber properties by conducting drying experiments using timber boards taken from different locations within a single tree and between trees, for regrowth and plantation blackbutt timber (Eucalyptus pilularis Sm.). The quantified variabilities were then used to develop optimized timber drying schedules that are intended to dry regrowth and plantation blackbutt boards as quickly as possible (highest productivity) without cracking (quality loss) in the presence of large biological variability. Blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis Sm.) was the chosen species for this thesis because of its abundance in New South Wales. It is considered to be one of the most important eucalypts for planting in NSW. It has superior growth and high survival rates compared with other eucalyptus species, and the timber is marketable. Lastly, conventional kiln drying was considered in this thesis compared with other drying methods such as air drying and solar kilns due to (arguably) better control of the drying conditions and faster throughput in conventional drying. The higher costs of conventional kiln drying are compensated, relative to open—air drying, by the reduction in stock level and faster turnaround of green to dried timber. Firstly, an overview of previous work on the development and evaluation of different drying schedules was given. Previous work either developed optimized drying schedules to minimize the dispersion of the final moisture contents, or reduced cracking/checking. No schedule has been developed to satisfy both aspects of quality. In addition, only one report has taken into consideration biological variability in the development of an optimized drying schedule, but this approach has not been tested experimentally. In addition, the information on the variability of biological parameters was very limited, was assumed to be normally distributed, and the parameters were assumed to be uncorrelated with one another. There is little information about the variability in timber properties with respect to drying, including how strongly they are correlated. This thesis has particularly addressed this aspect of the problem. Drying experiments using conventional kiln drying were conducted. The properties of two regrowth blackbutt logs (36 boards) and two plantation blackbutt logs (24 boards), have been measured and analysed for the within—tree variation of timber properties. In a separate set of experiments, two boards were taken from each log, from a total of 12 regrowth logs and 10 plantation logs, to study the between—tree variability of the timber properties of blackbutt timber. The timber properties measured consisted of the basic density, the initial moisture content, the diffusion coefficient, the failure strain, the failure stress, the modulus of elasticity and the shrinkage. The amount of cracking or checking and the dispersion of final moisture contents were assessed. 90% of the regrowth timber and 90% of the plantation timber fell in the Class C quality for surface checking, regrowth timber fell in Class B for end checking, while the end checks in the plantation timber fell in Class C for quality. Regrowth timber therefore appeared here to have slightly better quality than plantation material when dried with the same drying schedule, as here, in agreement with anecdotal suggestions that plantation material is more difficult to dry well. 95% of both the regrowth and the plantation timber fell in Class E quality for internal checking. Overall, along with the assessment that both regrowth and plantation timber was Class C quality for the variation of final moisture contents, these regrowth timber boards and the plantation timber boards fell in the lower quality classes for the criteria of checking and target moisture content for appearance products. Quality Classes A and B are higher quality categories, for appearance—grade products. The dispersion of the final moisture contents was greater with the plantation blackbutt timber (0.24 within; 0.36 between) than with the regrowth blackbutt timber (0.19 within; 0.15 between) for both within—tree and between—trees variability, respectively. In general, the diffusion coefficients for the timber in this thesis ranged between 1.14×10—10 and 6.77×10—10 m2s—1. There was a significant difference between the diffusion coefficients of the plantation and regrowth blackbutt timber for the within—tree test at a 0.05 significance level. The variation in the diffusion coefficients within a single plantation blackbutt log was higher than the variation in the diffusion coefficients within a regrowth blackbutt log. In addition, there was also a significant difference between the diffusion coefficients of regrowth and plantation blackbutt timber at a 0.05 significance level for between—trees variability. The initial moisture contents, the diffusion coefficient, and shrinkage decreased from pith to bark and the basic density and the modulus of elasticity (MOE) increased in the same direction, within a tree, for both regrowth and plantation blackbutt. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that radial and circumferential effects were significant sources of the within—tree variations for the diffusion coefficient, the initial moisture content, the basic density, the failure strain, the failure stress, the modulus of elasticity and shrinkage. A similar result was found for the ANOVA between trees. The ANOVA results also indicated that the smaller—sized samples used for the analysis (i.e. sub—samples of eight boards for the within—tree test of regrowth blackbutt, sub—samples of four boards for the between—trees test of regrowth blackbutt, sub—samples of six boards for the within—tree test of plantation blackbutt, and sub—samples of six boards for the between—trees test of plantation timber) were sufficient to measure the key effects adequately for the variabilities of the physical, transport, and mechanical properties, provided that all combinations of sub—samples were considered. There was no significant difference between the ANOVA results for these smaller sized samples (less than 1% change), considering all combinations, and the ANOVA results for the ‘full’ board cases. Though the sample sizes were unusually small to represent population statistics by most standards, all combinations of the sub-sets were assessed and an averaged picture of the situation with smaller sample sizes was given. Moreover, MOEs (both green and kiln—dried states) of plantation blackbutt were lower compared with the MOE of regrowth blackbutt. It is possible that the MOE was correlated with the basic density, and the basic density of regrowth blackbutt was higher than the basic density of plantation blackbutt. The shrinkage in the tangential direction was approximately twice the amount of radial shrinkage. The ranges of the measured radial shrinkage values were 0.024 – 0.094 mm mm-1 for regrowth blackbutt and 0.037 – 0.125 mm mm-1 for plantation blackbutt. The higher shrinkage values for plantation blackbutt timber show that plantation material is less stable dimensionally, and this situation is possibly due to the high juvenile wood content and low basic density. These differential (tangential:radial) shrinkage values ranged from 1.12 – 2.93 for regrowth blackbutt and 1.09 – 2.92 for plantation blackbutt. Tests were conducted to determine the degree of statistical normality for the distribution of each property (physical, transport, and mechanical). The results of the normality tests showed that most timber properties for regrowth and plantation blackbutt timber were distributed normally on a linear scale based on the W test, both within and between—trees. On the other hand, some timber properties showed a better fit with the three—parameter lognormal distribution, such as the diffusion coefficient and the green failure strain for within—tree variability of regrowth timber. The means and standard deviations of these distributions were further analysed by applying significance tests at a 0.05 level. For regrowth blackbutt, the data for the initial moisture content, the basic density, the diffusion coefficient, and shrinkage showed no significant differences, comparing the cases within and between—trees. The mechanical behaviour, however, was significantly different between each group and suggested that the two regrowth trees used for the within—tree test were stiffer than the 12 trees used for the between—trees test. It was possible that the mechanical properties were dependent on the geographic location where the tree was felled, and the heartwood content of each log. On the other hand, since all the plantation logs used for the within and between—trees tests were taken from one location, the mechanical properties were not significantly different within the plantation sample. The silviculture and the age of all the plantation trees were the same, which might have contributed to the small variation of the timber properties between the within—tree and between—trees cases for plantation material. Lastly, a significance test was conducted to compare the properties of regrowth and plantation blackbutt timber. Most timber properties (except for the initial moisture content) were significantly different between regrowth and plantation blackbutt. Plantation blackbutt timber had a lower basic density, higher diffusion coefficient and shrinkage, and the modulus of elasticity (both in its green and dried states) was lower compared with regrowth blackbutt timber. In addition to geographic location, heartwood/juvenile content, maturity (age), and differences in microfibril angle may have affected these timber properties in plantation blackbutt timber. For all the experiments, the possibility that there is a correlation between high initial moisture contents, higher diffusion coefficients, low basic densities, and low green modulus of elasticity’s (MOE) was assessed using principal components analysis (PCA). A principal components analysis was performed on the four parameters: the basic density, the initial moisture content, the diffusion coefficient, and the green MOE. The results of the PCA showed that the principal component for the within—tree and between—trees test accounted for 93% and 94% (for regrowth), and 92% and 90% (for plantation), respectively, of the total amount of variation within these parameters, giving some support for the mentioned correlation between the parameters. The strong correlation between the diffusion coefficient and the basic density, D; the diffusion coefficient and the initial moisture content, Xi; and the diffusion coefficient, D, and the modulus of elasticity, EG were represented by empirical equations. The F significance test was conducted to determine if the equations from the within—tree and between—trees tests, and the regrowth blackbutt and plantation blackbutt tests, were significantly different. The difference between the equations for the within—tree and between—trees variability of plantation blackbutt timber (Factual= 1.35  Fexpected= 2.13) was the only result that showed no significant difference. A possible reason for this finding is that the boards from the within—tree and between—tree variability tests, hence the trees, were all felled from one location. On the other hand, the other tests compared boards that were taken from trees felled from different locations, including the regrowth blackbutt within trees, compared with between trees. The results of the significance tests imply that boards taken from one location, whether they are within—tree and between—tree samples, have probably come from the same overall population. Hence using any of the correlations (within—tree or between—trees for plantation blackbutt) would be suitable to estimate the diffusion coefficient of other plantation blackbutt samples at the same location. Overall, these empirical equations can be used to estimate important drying properties of other regrowth and plantation blackbutt samples, such as the diffusion coefficient, using easily measured properties, like the initial moisture content or the basic density, as long as the boards are taken from the same age group (i.e. regrowth or plantation) and the same location. Thereafter, the blackbutt timber boards may be segregated based on the range of diffusion coefficients as estimated from the densities or the initial moisture contents. Hence a suitable drying schedule should be chosen for each segregated group. Collapse was not significant for blackbutt samples studied in this thesis, and possibly this timber species in general, but it may be significant for other eucalyptus species such as collapse—prone Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell (mountain ash) This potential limitation means that care is needed in applying the relationships found in this thesis to collapse—prone species. The same drying model was used to assess the effects of different drying schedules (i.e. increasing and decreasing the dry—bulb and wet—bulb temperatures of the original drying schedule by 5oC and 10oC) and of the potential correlations between the diffusion coefficient, the green MOE, the shrinkage coefficient (calculated from the tangential shrinkage), and the initial moisture content on the variability of final moisture contents, when the average moisture content within a stack of timber reached 15%. In addition, the maximum strain attained by the timber boards was also predicted. The results show that for regrowth blackbutt timber and accounting for within—tree variability, there was no relationship between the length of the drying schedule and the dispersion of final moisture contents. As the temperatures increased, the dispersion of the final moisture contents showed no consistent trend. The absence of a clear trend may be due to the different locations where the logs used for the within—tree test of regrowth variability were taken. On the other hand, the between—tree variability sensitivity tests for both regrowth and plantation blackbutt timber and the within—tree variability sensitivity test for plantation blackbutt timber show a relationship between the length of the drying schedule and the dispersion of final moisture contents. The dispersion of the final moisture contents decreased as temperatures increased. Generally, the ‘+10oC’ drying schedule gave the shortest time for the stack of timber to reach the target average moisture content, and its conditions produced the smallest dispersion of final moisture contents. It was also observed, however, for all sensitivity tests, that as the temperature of the drying schedule increased, the average predicted values decreased for the maximum strains reached. This is a very unusual result, because normally the strains and stresses would be expected to increase with increasing temperature. A possible reason for this is that within a piece of timber, as the temperatures increase, the diffusion coefficient will increase because the internal average temperature increases, so the internal resistance to mass transfer decreases, which leads to the moisture content gradient decreasing, even though the drying rate may slightly increase. This decreases both the drying time and the maximum strain reached as the temperature increases. There are limitations, however, associated when using high temperatures in kiln drying such as collapse and timber discolouration. The optimization technique created by Pordage (2006) was improved by using a large number of measurements to quantify the variability in the properties of blackbutt timber. The first simulation accounted for the between—tree variability of the biological parameters in regrowth blackbutt, and the second simulation accounted for both the within and between—tree variability of the timber properties in plantation blackbutt. Since location was observed as a main source of variability, the timber properties used for each simulation were taken from the logs that were felled from the same location. The mean and the standard deviations of the initial moisture content, the reference diffusion coefficient, and the shrinkage coefficient of regrowth and plantation blackbutt timber boards measured in the actual drying experiments, along with the covariance between these properties represented by a covariance matrix, were used for each simulation. The total drying time of the optimized drying schedule of plantation blackbutt timber was longer (an additional 168 hours, i.e. 472 hours) compared with the total drying time of the optimized drying schedule of regrowth blackbutt timber (304 hours). Due to the greater variability present in plantation blackbutt, slower drying is required. Moreover, the total drying times from the ‘regrowth blackbutt’ optimization and the ‘plantation blackbutt’ optimization (which both accounted for variability) were shorter compared with the total drying time of the original drying schedule for 28 mm—thick mixed—sawn blackbutt boards, i.e. 504 hours. On the other hand, the total drying times of the optimized drying schedules of regrowth and plantation blackbutt timber were greater than the total drying time (152 hours) predicted by Pordage’s (2006) optimized drying schedule accounting for the variability of Eucalyptus paniculata (grey ironbark). He had limited information on the variability of the parameters of grey ironbark and thus used an estimate from another eucalyptus species, Eucalyptus obliqua (messmate), whereas in this thesis, the variabilities for regrowth and plantation blackbutt used for the optimization technique were measured and part of the scope for this study. Overall, this is a typical application of the data obtained in this thesis to the optimization of drying schedules.

En zone tropicale, la production de lait et de viande par les ruminants est limitée par une faible disponibilité et une qualité médiocre des fourrages. A ces contraintes alimentaires s’ajoute l’impact environnemental lié en particulier aux émissions de méthane entérique par les ruminants. L’objectif de cette thèse était de comparer la production de méthane en milieu tempéré et en milieu tropical, puis de valoriser des fourrages tropicaux connus pour leur richesse en tanins dont les propriétés anti-méthanogènes sont reconnues, et qui peuvent réduire l’impact environnemental sans compromettre la productivité animale. Cette thèse comporte trois expérimentations distinctes. La première consistait en une étude in vivo visant à déterminer si les différences de digestibilité, de production de méthane, de fermentation et d’écosystème microbien du rumen observées entre les zones tempérées et tropicales proviennent de l’environnement (site d’expérimentation en milieu tempéré ou tropical), du fourrage (produit en zone tempérée ou tropicale), ou du génotype ovin (race de zone tempérée ou tropicale). Les résultats ont montré que les différences sont liées en priorité à la nature du fourrage, et sont influencées par les interactions entre génotype, caractéristiques du fourrage et environnement. La seconde expérience consistait à étudier l’effet de plantes riches en tanins condensés (feuilles de Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala, Manihot esculenta) sur la production de méthane, l’ingestion et la digestibilité de la ration, les fermentations et l’écosystème microbien du rumen. Un essai in vivo a montré que l’incorporation de ces plantes à raison de 40% du régime d’ovins sous forme de granulés permettait de réduire le méthane entérique sans effets indésirables sur la digestibilité et la fermentation ruminale. Un essai in vitro a montré que le principal facteur de la réponse a été la dose de tanins condensés plutôt que la source. La troisième expérience consistait en l’étude in situ et in vitro du pouvoir anti-méthanogène et de la dégradation dans le rumen de plantes riches en tanins hydrolysables (feuilles et gousses d’Acacia nilotica) ou en tanins condensés (feuilles de Calliandra calothyrsus, Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala, Manihot esculenta, Musa spp). Les résultats obtenus suggèrent que les tanins hydrolysables conviennent mieux à la réduction des émissions de méthane que les tanins condensés car ils inhibent fortement la production de méthane sans effets négatifs marqués sur la fermentation ruminale. Les effets des tanins sur la production de méthane et la fermentation dans le rumen ont été en partie expliqués par le devenir des différentes fractions des tanins (libres, associés aux protéines ou aux fibres) dans le rumen. L’association de plantes riches en tanins hydrolysables et en tanins condensés ne parvient pas à dégager de possibles synergies entre ces de types de molécules. Ce travail a permis de montrer qu’il était possible de réduire les émissions de méthane entérique par les ruminants en milieu tropical par la consommation de fourrages riches en tanins hydrolysables sans compromettre les processus digestifs dans le rumen ; la diminution de la méthanogenèse avec les tanins condensés présente plus de risque de réduire les fermentations
In tropical areas, dairy and meat production from ruminants is limited by low availability and poor quality of forages. In addition to this dietary constraint, the emission of enteric methane under these less productive conditions is proportionally larger than under temperate conditions. The aim of this work is i) to compare enteric methane production in tropical and temperate environments, and ii) to promote tropical forages rich in hydrolysable or condensed tannins having anti-methanogenic properties that could reduce the environmental impact without compromising animal productivity. This work includes three separate studies. The first one was an in vivo study aiming to determine the origin of the differences of digestibility, methane production, ruminal fermentation and microbial ecosystem between tropical and temperate countries using as variables: the site of the experiment (tropics or temperate area), the type of forage (grown in the tropics or in temperate areas); and the animal genotype (tropical or temperate). Results showed that differences are mainly due to forages, but with interactions between nature of forages, environment and genotype. The objective of the second study was to determine the effect of plants rich in condensed tannins (leaves of Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala, and Manihot esculenta) on methane production, intake, digestibility, ruminal fermentation and microbial ecosystem. An in vivo trial demonstrated that the inclusion of 40% of these plants as pellets in sheep diet reduced enteric methane without compromising the nutritive value of the diet. An in vitro trial showed that the response to tannins was more due to tannin concentration than to the plant species. In the third study, plants rich in hydrolysable tannins (leaves and pods of Acacia nilotica) or in condensed tannins (leaves of Calliandra calothyrsus, Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala, Manihot esculenta, Musa spp) were studied for their anti-methanogenic properties and their ruminal degradation in an in situ and an in vitro trial. Results suggest that hydrolysable tannins are more suitable than condensed tannins for mitigating methane emission because of a strong reduction in methane production without negatively affecting ruminal fermentation. These results have been partly explained by the fate of the different fractions of condensed tannins (free, protein-bound and fibre-bound) in the rumen. The association of plants rich in hydrolysable tannins with plants rich in condensed tannins failed to produce synergistic effects on methane mitigation. This work showed that enteric methane production by ruminants could be reduced in tropical areas by the inclusion of hydrolysable tannins without compromising digestive processes in the rumen; methane mitigation with condensed tannins may result in a reduction of the extent of fermentation

The progressive growth of onshore shale production (both gas and liquids) to replace depleting and aging oil fields may benefit from the use of surface seismic shear wave data analysis for full characterization of shale reservoir properties and lead to optimum development of these resources. This includes descriptions of azimuthal anisotropy (HTI - transverse isotropy with a horizontal symmetry axis) for characterization of fractures and internal fracture systems. The objective of this study is to document a predicted distortion in polarization of propagating seismic shear waves upon reflection at a subsurface interface and to propose a correction to this distortion. The polarization distortion occurs even in wholly isotropic media. This correction is based on an understanding of shear amplitude behavior as a function of the reflection incidence angle, particularly differences in the reflection angle relation for different shear components. This study includes a demonstration of the efficacy of the proposed correction by applying it to simulated and real direct shear-wave source data. Such corrections should result in a minimized polarization distortion in the reflection process. The apparent consistency of a null value (zero crossing) of the SV-SV reflectivity (near 20-24 degrees) for common density and velocity contrasts as well as the remarkably regular behavior of the SV-SV and SH-SH reflectivity curves following a linear relation in sin2 and tan2 of the incidence angle and offers the opportunity for a simple and stable correction with minimal sensitivity to detailed knowledge of contrasts in velocity and density. The only independent information required for the correction is the angle of incidence where the SV-SV and SH-SH reflections vanish and the range of these angles is typically quite limited. Some key questions were addressed in gaining an understanding of shear wave polarization distortion upon reflection for varying model data: 1) how do we address reflected polarization distortion for purely isotropic medium for varying incidence angles? 2) How do we apply this correction for an isotropic and anisotropic media for both simulated and actual field data 3) How do we address applications to real data and how distorted amplitudes can be corrected to identify actual subsurface HTI anisotropy. Significantly, the polarization distortion correction is implemented as a simple extension of the established Alford rotation for normal incidence shear reflections of varying polarization. This extension leads to the improved analysis of direct shear-source 3D data with inherently distorted polarization. Thus, analysis may be applied to estimate HTI anisotropy previously not realizable in finite offset data subject to polarization distortion. Example applications to actual field data are included. Note that the polarization correction does remove the AVO effects often exploited in analysis of P-P data where polarization is not an issue that is, the AVO amplitude effect is essentially removed from the SV-SV and SH-SH oriented direct shear-wave profiles, which permits proper analysis of the polarization. Further, additional analysis of the polarization correction on field data with documented anisotropy will be required to fully develop the usefulness of this proposed correction.
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碩士
東海大學
食品科學系
91
ABSTRACT Six strains of lactic acid bacteria（Lactobacillus bulgaricus CCRC 14009, Streptococcus thermophilus CCRC 12257, Lactobacillus acidophilus CCRC 10695, Lactobacillus casei CCRC 10697, Bifidobacterium bifidum CCRC 11844, and Bifidobacterium longum CCRC 11847）were selected as the starter organisms in this research to study the effect of using single and mixed strains of lacic acid starters on the manufacture of blackbean milk yogurt. Result showed that blackbean milk yogurt products made from mixed strains had higher viable count, higher titratable acidity, shorter fermentation time (pH=4.6) and higher viscosity as campared with those made from single strains. In addition, mixed strains showed higher sugar utilization (sucrose, stachyose and fructose) and higher production of lactate and vitamin B complex (B1＆B2) than single strains. Therefore, using mixed-strain starters could produce blackbean milk yogurt with better nutritious value and physical property. After stored at 4℃ for 28 days, blackbean milk yogurt made from mixed strains of B. longum＋S. thermophilus＋L. bulgaricus had better microbiological and physical properties than those made from other 4 mixed-strain starters. This yogurt product showed the highest viable count (8.78 Log CFU/ml), survival rate (75.9%), titratable acidity (0.495%) and viscosity; and the lowest syneresis rate. Sensory evaluation of the yogurt product made from mixed strains of B. longum＋S. thermophilus＋L. bulgaricus indicated that adding 10% (w/v) sucrose or 6% (w/v) sucrose＋2% (w/v) lactose＋2% (w/v) glucose could improve the sensory property and raise the acceptability of this product. For economical concern, the former would be recommended.

碩士
高苑科技大學
經營管理研究所
104
Abstract This study aims at exploring the influence of store image and service quality on repurchase intention for Formosa Blackbear Outdoors Shop, and further examining the relationship of repurchase intention between store image and service quality. Explore views of customers on Formosa Blackbear Outdoors Shop, and thereby provide decision makers with related to their industries. This study, with the basis of literature review and the discussion of relevant theories, constructs the related factors for the dimensions of store image, service quality and re- purchase intention. It proceeds with quantitative analysis from different background variables of consumers to further explore the relationship between each dimension and the influences among dimensions, using customers of Formosa Blackbear Outdoors Shop as research subject. After the process of implementing questionnaire, this study utilizes SPSS software to launch statistic and data analysis, including descriptive statistics, factoring analysis, reliability analysis, canonical analysis, stepwise multi-regression analysis, t-test and one-way ANOVA. The results of the analysis through the study, the conclusions of this study was as follows: 1. The relationship of store Image to repurchase intention appears part significant positive influence. 2. The relationship of service quality to repurchase intention appears significant positive influence. 3. As for background variables, different age, differen education, different occupation, different marriage of customers express significant differences to repurchase intention dimension. Keywords: store image, service quality, repurchase intention