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Water distribution systems are susceptible to contamination events, which can occur due to naturally occurring events, accidents or even malicious attacks. When a contamination event occurs, dangerous substances infiltrating the network may be consumed thereby deteriorating the consumers' health and possibly affecting the economy. Advances in sensor and actuator technologies are enabling water networks to become smarter and more resilient to these types of events. This paper provides a broad review of the theoretical, modeling, and computational developments in the area of contamination event diagnosis for water distribution systems. Research is segmented into three main tasks, summarized as "Preparedness", "Event Detection and Isolation" and "Emergency Event Management". The key research topics from each task are described within a unified systems-theoretic mathematical framework, and their open challenges are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to parameter uncertainties, such as errors in water flow estimation and unknown chlorine decay rate, there is typically significant uncertainty in the estimated chlorine concentration in a Drinking Water Distribution Network (DWDN). For certain applications, such as control, monitoring and event detection, it is crucial to have available not only the estimated chlorine concentration but also the possible interval of concentration values. This paper presents a novel methodology, the Backtracking Uncertainty Bounding Algorithm (BUBA), for calculating bounds on chlorine concentration at specific locations in DWDNs. The utility of this algorithm is demonstrated in a chlorine sensor fault detection scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To monitor water quality, utilities typically employ periodic manual sampling. However, when a contamination event occurs, it may require days before it is detected. To enhance monitoring, utilities employ sensors which monitor various water quality parameters. A common approach is the use of chlorine sensors for monitoring chlorine residuals at different locations in the network, in order to determine whether a contamination event has occurred. Unfortunately, due to significant variability in water demands, as well as the effect of hydraulic and quality control actions, the disinfectant residual at the sensor location may fluctuate significantly in time, and therefore, model-free event detection algorithms may not be able to detect certain contamination events, or they may cause false alarms. This work extends the work in by proposing a model-based method for contamination event detection using real-time concentration lower-bound estimations as well as multi-level thresholds, for enhancing detection and reducing detection delay while minimizing false positive alarms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The effects of breathing on body roll have been previously investigated for the roll of the whole trunk only. The purposes of this study were: to calculate separately the shoulder roll (SR) and hip roll (HR) of swimmers during front crawl for non-breathing and preferred-side breathing conditions; to assess the differences in the magnitude and temporal characteristics of these variables between non-breathing and preferred-side breathing conditions; and to examine their association with swimming performance (indicated by swimming speed). Twelve male swimmers who competed at national and international level performed two maximum 25m front crawl trials: one non-breathing and one with breathing to their preferred side. Performance was recorded with four below and two above water synchronised cameras. SR and HR in both trials were calculated for the breathing and non-breathing sides. The timings of SR and HR peaks to each side and at the positions of neutral roll were also calculated. Swimming speed was significantly slower in the breathing trial (p<0.01). Swimmers rolled their shoulders and hips to the breathing side significantly more in the breathing than in the non-breathing trial (SR: p<0.01; HR: p=0.03). Nevertheless, there were no significant differences in the overall SR or HR between these trials. In the breathing trial, SR was higher in the breathing than in the non-breathing side (p<0.01) but HR was not significantly different (p=0.07). There was no evidence to suggest that temporal characteristics of SR or HR were associated with swimming performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The intracycle velocity (V) of a fixed point on a swimmer''s body, usually the hip, is frequently calculated as a direct indication of the intracycle V of the centre of mass (CM). The purpose of this study was to examine whether the intracycle V of the hip reflects accurately the intracycle V of the CM in freestyle swimming. One stroke cycle was analysed for ten swimmers performing a maximum freestyle swim. The magnitude of differences between CM and hip values was calculated for the instantaneous V values, the intracycle V fluctuation (V fluc) and the magnitude and timing of appearance of maximum (V max) and minimum intracycle V (V min). Large differences were found in all variables, with the use of the hip for V calculations overestimating significantly V max and underestimating significantly V min and V fluc of the CM (p ≤0.001). The results of this study showed that the hip motion should not be used as an indication of the intracycle CM motion in freestyle swimming. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to establish the rhythm characteristics of skilled front crawl swimmers using a six-beat kick. These included the amplitudes of the first three Fourier harmonics (H1, H2, H3) and their percent contributions to power contained in the angular displacement signals of the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles with respect to the longitudinal axis in line with the swimming direction. Three-dimensional video data of seven national/international level swimmers were collected during simulated 200m front crawl races in which swimmers maintained six-beat kicking patterns. Swimmers differed in all variables but had small variability across the four 50m laps. Modest changes occurred during the 200m, with the exception of shoulder roll, which remained constant and was represented almost entirely by a single sinusoid (H1). Changes across laps reached significance for swimming speed, stroke rate, hip roll, and H3 wave velocity between the knee and ankle. A H3 body wave of moderate and increasing velocity travelled caudally from hip to ankle. In the light of existing knowledge of aquatic locomotion this was compatible with the goal of generating propulsion in an efficient manner. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of the present study is to highlight and evaluate the role of flavour prenatal exposure in postnatal feeding preferences in sheep after weaning and until the early stages of puberty. 16 lambs were selected from two groups of ewes; the first group was fed with a control diet, consisted of concentrated feed and alfalfa hay and the second group with the same diet, with the only difference that the concentrate was supplemented with oregano essential oil (1 ml/kg), during the period of pregnancy (50th–130th day). Lambs were later individually subjected to feeding preference tests, at the age of 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5 months old. Each test lasted 25 min and it was a free choice situation between 3 different test feeds supplemented with eucalyptus or orange or oregano essential oil (1 ml/kg). Lambs born to oregano-treated ewes ate higher amounts of the oregano supplemented test feed during all feeding preference tests compared to lambs from the control group (P <0.01). Rates for occurrences and duration of eating were also greater in lambs born to oregano-treated ewes than the offspring of the control ewe group (P <0.01). On the other hand, animals without a flavour exposure precedent did not exhibit an evident strong preference for a specific test feed, although orange supplemented feed tended to be more preferable compared to the other offered feeds. Average total intake of lambs were not different between groups during all feeding preference tests at 3, 41/2, 6 and 71/2 months old. As it is concluded, prenatal exposure to oregano essential oil via maternal ingestion drastically influences lamb feeding preferences till adulthood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Abstract: The objective of this study was to highlight the problems that arise during the reproduction between thin-tailed rams and fat-tailed ewes. At the same time, particular emphasis laid on the influence of sheep breed, sheep age, time after ram introduction and day of the ewe estrus cycle on ram and ewe sexual behaviour. Rams were subjected to sexual performance tests by being individually exposed to 12 ewes for 3h daily, 19 consecutive days. The 16 rams of the experiment were separated according to their age (9 and 21 months old) and breed (Chios and Karagouniki), and the 96 ewes of Chios fat-tailed breed, were divided by age (9 and 21 months old). The main characteristics of courtship behaviour, like sniffing, nudging, flehmen response and following were recorded and studied in detail. Mature Chios rams, which were the only one with previous experience of Chios ewes, exhibited higher rates of sexual interest per ewe than the other rams (P <0.05). On the other hand, rams sniffed and nudged more young than mature ewes (P <0.05), probably due to the fact that young ewes did not express intense symptoms of estrus. Young rams exhibited substandard sexual interest towards mature ewes, when they first came in contact with them (P <0.05). In general, Karagouniki thin-tailed rams exhibited reduced rates of mating behaviour when they courted with Chios fat-tailed ewes in comparison with Chios rams (P <0.05). Moreover, as the time after ram introduction passed, the frequency and duration of sexual behaviour components decreased (P <0.001). Finally, the effect of the day of the experiment was only significant in the case of sniffing, which increased during the first 2 days and then declined and stabilized (P <0.01). As it was demonstrated, ram age and ram breed played a fundamental role in the exhibition of sexual interest elements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effect of drinker location within the farrowing crate in relation to its microenvironment and the effect of dispenser colour on drinking behaviour and water intake of newborn pigs for the first two days of their lives were studied. In the first trial, 16 sows were randomly assigned to four treatment groups with the piglet''s water dispenser placed in the front right (FR), front left (FL), back right (BR) or back left (BL) corner of the farrowing pen, respectively. In the second trial nine sows were randomly assigned to three treatment groups with the piglets’ water dispenser, placed in the front left corner of the farrowing pen, and coloured as red (CR), green (CG) or blue (CB), respectively. Trials commenced between 08:00 and 10:00h on the first morning after the litters were born and the piglets’ age was considered to be zero (“age”) by that time. The average age of the piglets at their first visit to water dispensers was 15.9±1.8h. The newborn pigs visited the drinker more frequently (P <0.001) during daytime than during night, with two peaks soon after sow feeding time. The duration of drinking time was long at the time of higher (noon) and shorter at the time of lowest (early morning) temperatures (P <0.01) in the farrowing house, respectively. The greatest attention at the drinkers occurred soon after suckling (P <0.001). The longest time spends at the drinker during the first visits and decreased as the pigs visited dispensers repeatedly. The profile of visit frequency and duration differed between piglet sexes (P <0.001). The pigs that did not visit the drinker grew slower and were lighter at 48h of age than the pigs visited the drinker. First visit and overall mean visit age were significantly shorter for BL than for FR and BR groups. Piglets visited the FL drinker for shorter time than the others. Water consumption per pig/24h was lower for FL and higher for BL groups (P <0.05). Water consumption was higher for CR and CB groups than for CG group. The overall mean visit age was shorter for CG than for CB group. Significant interactions were observed between sex and colour groups for the number of visits (P <0.05). The results of the present study revealed that water dispenser use by newborn piglets is characterised by diurnal and between two successive milk consumptions distributions. Water consumption by piglets from birth to 48h of their lives is strongly influenced by water dispenser location in the farrowing pen and the dispenser colour. It also appears that males and females behave differently to the three colour dispensers used in this study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Model-based methodologies can assist in addressing the challenging problem of leakage detection and localization in water distribution systems. However, this is not trivial due to inherent non-linearities and parametric uncertainties. Most importantly, due to the small number of available sensor measurements compared to the number of system states, the inverse problem for estimating leakages is highly under-determined. In this work, the utilization of a priori available information about the system is proposed to formulate a hydraulic model of the system in its non-linear form in which uncertainties are modeled by intervals defined by a lower and upper bound. A novel optimization-based methodology then utilizes pressure and flow measurements to perform leakage detection through model-invalidation. A modification of the optimization algorithm is activated in the case of a detection to refine possible leak locations and retain only the ones that can be explained by the interval model and available measurements from multiple time-steps. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on a benchmark network and evaluated using a leakage diagnosis benchmark dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the breathing action in front crawl (FC) sprint swimming affects the ipsilateral upper limb kinematics relative to a non-breathing stroke cycle (SC). Ten male competitive swimmers performed two 25 m FC sprints: one breathing to their preferred side (Br) and one not breathing (NBr). Both swim trials were performed through a 6.75 m 3 calibrated space and recorded by six gen-locked JVC KY32 CCD cameras. A paired t -test was used to assess statistical differences between the trials, with a confidence level of p <0.05 accepted as significant. Swimmers were slower (3%) when breathing. Within the entry phase, swimmers had a slower COM horizontal velocity (3.3%), less shoulder flexion (8%), abduction (33%) and roll (4%) when breathing. The pull phase was longer in duration (14%) swimmers had a shallower hand path (11%), less shoulder abduction (11%), a slower hand vertical acceleration (30%) and slower centre of mass (COM) horizontal velocity (3%) when breathing. In the push phase, swimmers had a smaller elbow range of motion (ROM) (38%), faster backwards hand speed (25%) and faster hand vertical acceleration (33%) when breathing. Swimmers rolled their shoulders more (12%) in the recovery phase when breathing. This study confirms that swim performance is compromised by the inclusion of taking a breath in sprint FC swimming. It was proposed that swimmers aim to orient their ipsilateral shoulder into a stronger position by stretching and rolling the shoulders more in the entry phase whilst preparing to take a breath. Swimmers should focus on lengthening the push phase by extending the elbow more and not accelerating the hand too quickly upwards when preparing to inhale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The crucial role of the periweaning period in the development of lamb feeding preferences was examined in the present study. Twenty-four female lambs were fed with a commercial diet, supplemented with oregano essential oil (1ml/kg) between the 15th and 55th day of their life, in the absence of ewes. After the 55th day, animals consumed the same diet, without the oregano oil dietary supplementation. Lambs were later individually subjected to feeding preference tests at the age of 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 months old. Each test lasted 25min and it was a free choice situation between 4 different test feeds supplemented with eucalyptus or mint or orange or oregano essential oil (1ml/kg). As it was shown, previous exposure to oregano flavour influenced future acceptance of oregano-supplemented feed, as it is described by feed intake (P <0.001), occurrences and duration of eating (P <0.01), especially after the age of 9 months old. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To date numerous metabolomic studies have been performed in order to characterize nutritional intervention studies. The aim of the current study was to present a comprehensive pipeline for characterizing the metabolic changes that occur in chickens tissues in response to naringin and hesperidin dietary supplementation. Forty-nine chickens were randomly divided into 3 groups: the first one fed with diet supplemented with naringin, the second with hesperidin whereas the control group was fed by commercial basal diet. After 30 days of administration chicken muscle samples were analyzed by UHPLC–HRMS whereas data were analyzed by the proposed pipeline. Three significant variables were detected to discriminate the control from the group after naringin administration and thirteen variables after hesperidin supplementation. Furthermore, a more detailed pipeline (encompassing multiple internal standards, internal validation of the clustering, extended statistical significance scores and multiple identification procedures) has been proposed aiming towards a more accurate untargeted analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction In the case of the MS-based metabolomics, the large number of false positives remains a fundamental issue. Objective The aim of this study was to develop a new strategy, which highlights the number of the reliable features i.e. the detected features that correspond to a consistent peak according to chromatographic and mass spectrometric criteria. Method For the analysis blood samples from 20 chickens, which were administrated with naringin and 9 samples from control, were analyzed by UHPLC-HRMS (Orbitrap Velos). Two methodologies have been compared for data processing. In the first one (classical approach), all data in the 100–900  m/z mass-to charge range were included for the data processing procedure whereas for the newly developed methodology, the data were shred in 100 Da slices generating 8 datasets, which have been then subjected to the downstream MS data processing. Each dataset was treated separately and the m/z _t R features obtained by either VIP’s or t -test values were merged and used as the input for the construction of the general model. Results The new methodology resulted to a 4-fold increase of the peaks that could be considered chromatographically and mass spectrometrically valid. Conclusion A new strategy was reported on the detection of chromatographically reliable features during a metabolomic approach. The shredding of the LC–MS chromatograms into multiple m/z ranges increased the number of the identified chromatographically reliable features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present experiment was to investigate the implications of severe maternal undernutrition on the post-weaning behavior of rabbits. Thirty two does were randomly assigned to four groups: the control group (C) that was fed 100% of the recommended energy maintenance requirements throughout pregnancy and lactation and the U1, U2 and U3 groups that were fed 50% of the recommended energy maintenance requirements between the 6th and the 19th day of pregnancy, between the 20th and the 27th day of pregnancy and between the 3rd and the 10th day of lactation, respectively. At the age of 50 and 65 days, behavior of rabbits in cages was recorded and rabbits were further subjected to an open-field test; a paradigm used as an indicator of fear and emotional distress. Significant differences were found between the U2 and the other experimental groups for the duration of eating and drinking, and duration of locomotory and investigatory behaviors (P < 0.05). At the age of 65 days, duration of comfort behaviors was also lower in the U2 compared to the other groups (P < 0.05). On the other hand, duration of resting appeared to be the highest in the group of rabbits born from undernourished does between the 20th and the 27th day of pregnancy (P < 0.05). Duration of resting was significantly increased, although frequency and duration of eating and drinking were significantly decreased at the age of 65 days (P < 0.05). Male rabbits had greater values for locomotory and investigatory behaviors, and duration of eating and drinking compared to the females (P < 0.01). A decreased activity of rabbits during the light period was observed (as expected), whereas an increase in duration of locomotory and investigatory behaviors was observed during the first four and the last 4 h of the light and dark periods, respectively (P < 0.05). Rabbits born from the U1 and U2 group of does displayed increased rates of latency to leave the start position compared to the other groups during the implementation of the open-field test (P < 0.05). No other significant differences in the exhibition of the examined behaviors were found between the treatment groups, with the exception of ‘moving forelegs’ activity that had the lowest value in the U3 group of rabbits. It is concluded that severe maternal undernutrition (50% of the recommended maintenance requirements) especially between the 20th and the 27th day of pregnancy has significant effects on the exhibition of rabbits' post-weaning behavior, since the offspring from the U2 undernourished does were significantly less active compared to the other experimental groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The objective of the present study was to highlight the possible effects of an extended photoperiod throughout lactation on the performance and behaviour of sows and their piglets. Sows were randomly assigned to two light regimens: (1) standard (n =12) consisting of 8h of light (0700–1500) daily from day 111 of gestation until day 28 of lactation, and (2) extended (n =12) consisting of 20h of light (0700–0300) from day 111 of gestation until day 28 of lactation (weaning). Piglets were weighed on days 2 and 28 and average feed intake was measured. Behaviour was recorded for a continuous 24h period on days 6, 10, 15, 17 and 19. A backtest was also carried out at the 28th day of lactation. The increase of the daily light throughout lactation seems to have a beneficial impact on litter growth during lactation (P <0.001). During the backtest, piglets of the extended photoperiod group exhibited more escape attempts compared to that of the standard photoperiod group (P <0.001). An increase in daily photoperiod from 8 to 20h light also appears to positively influence piglet activity and creep feed intake, without affecting sow activity, the mean duration of nursing and the mean interval between two consecutive nursings. Finally, sow posture appears to significantly influence piglet activity; when the sow was standing the number of piglets that were also standing was greater compared to the other sow postures (sitting or lying) (P <0.001). As it is concluded, light regimen could be manipulated as a tool to improve piglets’ growth performance during lactation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of the present experiment was to determine the implications of prenatal undernutrition on the behaviour of juvenile lambs. Dams of one group (C) were fed 100% of the recommended requirements throughout pregnancy, while those of two other groups were fed 50% of the control nutrient allowance during the first 30 days of pregnancy (R1) or 50% of the control nutrient allowance from days 31–100 of pregnancy (R2). Between 2 and 5 months old, behaviour of lambs was tested by the implementation of 2 types of test: isolation and novelty. There were no statistical differences between lamb treatments in escape behaviour and heart rates during isolation test, or the latency to approach a novel or a familiar object in the novelty test in tests conducted at 2, 3, 4 and 5 months of age. Male lambs showed a tendency of turning to the right-hand side of the test pen, irrespective of treatment group, between the age of 2 and 5 months old. A greater proportion of C compared to R1 males turned right at the age of 2 and 5 months old (P <0.05). Significant differences concerning laterality were found also between C and R1 female lambs at the age of 2 and 4 months old (P <0.001), between C and R2 male lambs at the age of 2 months old (P <0.05), between C and R2 female lambs at the age of 4 and 5 months old (P <0.01), between R1 and R2 male lambs at the age of 2 and 5 months old (P <0.05) and between R1 and R2 female lambs at the age of 2 months old (P <0.001). It is concluded that prenatal undernutrition during different periods of pregnancy had no effect on fear-related behaviour, but effect on laterality at the early stages of lamb age between 2 and 5 months old. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of the present paper is to introduce electron conductive and d–d-interactive individual and composite hypo-d-oxides of increased altervalent capacity, or their suboxides (Magneli phases), as catalytic supports and therefrom provide: (i) the Strong Metal-Supports Interaction (SMSI) effect and (ii) dynamic spillover interactive transfer of primary oxides (M–OH) for further electrode reactions and thereby advance the overall electrocatalytic activity. Since hypo-d-oxides feature the exchange membrane properties, the higher the altervalent capacity, the higher the spillover effect. This is the reason why anatase titania has now been doped with a certain amount of colloidal tungstenia (WO3) ingredient, and the latter individually employed as the interactive catalyst support. Potentiodynamic experiments have shown that the reversible peak of the primary oxide growth on Pt, Ru and Au supported upon hypo-d-oxides and suboxides becomes distinctly increased in the charge capacity and shifted to remarkably more negative potential values, so that it starts even within the range of H-adatoms desorption, while its reduction extends until and merge with the UPD of hydrogen atoms. With wet tungstenia-doped titania-supported Pt catalyst in membrane cells, these peaks dramatically increase in their charge capacity and reversibly become shrunk with decreased moisture content in the feeding inert gas mixture, and vice versa. Such distinct potentiodynamic scans in conjunction with some broadened complementary kinetic electrocatalytic improvements, rising from the same hypo-d-oxide and/or suboxide interactive support effects, have been proved to be the best and comparable experimental evidence for the spillover effect of primary oxides. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]