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Cross-bred lambs ( n = 72) were fed finishing diets using a factorial arrangement of treatments: BASAL DIET (alfalfa pellets or corn), SUPPLEMENT (none, linseed or aromatic spices), TIME ON FEED (41 or 83 days). Carcass and meat quality traits, fatty acid composition, color stability and consumer liking were determined. Feeding alfalfa improved sensory ratings and fatty acid composition of lamb. However, corn or longer alfalfa feeding would be recommended if heavier and fatter carcasses are sought. Consumer liking and fatty acid composition of lamb were improved with addition of spices and linseed, respectively. But additional antioxidant strategies should be considered to delay meat color deterioration during storage if lambs are fed corn-linseed for 83 days. Although alfalfa basal diet and linseed supplementation improved fatty acid composition, feeding the basal diets for at least 41 days resulted in low n -3 fatty acid concentrations in muscle.

In order to histochemically describe contractile and metabolic fiber types in 16 heavy-lamb muscles, samples were taken from nine cross-bred heavy lambs. Relevant intermuscular differences were detected regarding fiber typing. Muscle Longissimus lumborum showed larger type II fibers than muscle Longissimus thoracis ( P Triceps brachii caput longum and caput laterale differed in their contractile and metabolic characteristics ( P Gluteobiceps , Supraspinatus and Infraspinatus , and Vastus lateralis and Rectus femoris ( P

The aims of the present study were to describe intermuscular differences in meat-quality traits in 15 young-sheep muscles, and to study the associations between meat quality and fibre typing across all (pooled) muscles as well as in previously selected homogeneous contractile–metabolic groups of muscles (slow-oxidative, intermediate and fast-glycolytic muscles). Meat-quality traits (pH, colour, expressed juice, cooking losses, tenderness and sarcomere length) and fibre typing were evaluated after 24 h of slaughter in 15 muscles from five cross-bred young sheep. Across all the studied muscles, intermuscular differences in some meat-quality traits (pH24, a* and expressed juice) seemed to be mainly explained by muscle oxidative activity, while intermuscular variation in other meat-quality traits (L*, b* and Warner–Bratzler shear force) were mainly explained by differences in fibre sizes. Within fast-glycolytic muscles, larger fast-glycolytic fibres and reduced oxidative activity were generally associated with lower ultimate pH, higher L* values, lower a* values and longer sarcomeres. Within intermediate muscles, larger fast-glycolytic fibres and reduced oxidative activity were generally associated with lower ultimate pH, higher L* values, shorter sarcomeres and reduced meat tenderness. Within slow-oxidative muscles, larger fast-glycolytic fibres and reduced oxidative activity were generally associated with lower amounts of expressed juice, lower a* values and reduced meat tenderness. The present study has contributed to a better understanding of the influence of muscle fibre types on intermuscular meat-quality variation, suggesting that although muscle fibre diversity may explain, at least in part, intermuscular differences in meat quality, these associations can also slightly vary among muscle contractile–metabolic groups.

The objective of this research was to study the effect of muscle type: Psoas (PS), Longissimus dorsi (LD), Semimembranosus (SM), Semitendinosus (ST) and Gluteo biceps (GB) and ageing time (1, 7, 14 and 21 days) on sensory meat quality of Holando steers Consumers detected differences in tenderness due to muscle type (P ≤ 0.001) and ageing time (P≤ 0.001). Muscle ranking was similar for all tested sensorial attributes (tenderness, flavor quality and acceptability): PS > LD > ST > SM > GB, improving the sensory ratings as the ageing period increased (21 days >14 days =7 days > 1 day). Interaction between muscle type and ageing time was highly significant (p ≤ 0.001) for all meat attributes evaluated by the consumer panel. ST and GB muscles needed longer ageing periods to improve tenderness ratings (4.85 at day 1 vs. 5.79 at day 21, and 2.97 at day 1 vs. 3.67 at day 21, for ST and GB, respectively; P ≤ 0.0001). Tenderness ratings for LD and SM muscles increased by day 7 (5.59 at day 1 vs. 7.12 at day 7, and 3.55 at day 1 vs. 4.54 at day 7, for LD and SM, respectively; P≤ 0.0001), while PS muscle reached the highest tenderness ratings by day 1, not showing any improvement in tenderness during the aging period. In contrast, GB showed the lowest tenderness ratings, and did not show significant increases in flavor quality or acceptability during ageing. These results suggest the possibility of implementing different strategies of conservation and definitively a cost-benefit equation that will change depending on the type of cut considered.

Se estudió el efecto del tipo de músculo: Psoas (PS) Longissimus dorsi (LD), Semimembranosus (SM), Semitendinosus (ST), y Gluteo bíceps (GB) y del tiempo de maduración post-mortem (1, 7, 14, y 21 días), sobre la calidad sensorial de la carne de novillos Holando. Los consumidores establecieron un ranking entre músculos, que -en orden decreciente - fue el siguiente: PS > LD > ST > SM >GB; registrándose mejoras en la nota asignada conforme se prolongó la maduración (21 días >14 días = 7 días > 1 día), No obstante, la interacción tipo de músculo x tiempo de maduración resultó altamente significativa (P ≤ 0,0001). Los músculos ST y GB necesitaron los mayores períodos de maduración estudiados (21 días) para mejorar las valoraciones en terneza (4,85 en día 1 vs. 5,79 en día 21 y 2,97 en día 1 vs. 3,67 en día 21, para ST y GB, respectivamente; P≤ 0,001), mientras que los músculos LD y SM mejoraron significativamente su terneza a los 7 días de maduración (5,59 en día 1 vs. 7,12 en día 7 y 3,55 en día 1 vs. 4,54 en día 7, para LD y SM, respectivamente; P≤ 0,0001). El músculo PS obtuvo los mayores valores de terneza ya al día 1 de maduración, no evidenciando efectos significativos posteriores. Como contraparte, el músculo GB mostró las notas más bajas en terneza, sin mejoras en calidad de sabor y aceptabilidad general a lo largo de la maduración. Estos resultados sugieren la posibilidad de implementar diferentes estrategias de conservación y por tanto una ecuación costo-beneficio que variará en función del tipo de corte considerado.

Se estudió el efecto del tipo de músculo Gluteo biceps, (GB), Longissimus dorsi (LD) Psoas mayor (PS), Semimembranosus (SM) y Semitendinosus (ST), sobre la evolución de los parámetros de color durante los primeros 7 días de almacenamiento post-mortem con exposición al oxígeno. Durante los 7 días de evaluación se evidenció una pérdida gradual de color (C*) (1° día: 27,0 vs. 7° día: 24,1), observándose los valores más bajos al 5° día (23,7) (P< 0,001). A su vez, se registró un descenso del índice de rojo (a*) con diferencias significativas entre el primer y cuarto día (21,9 vs. 18,8) y un aumento del tono (H*) durante todo el período (1° día: 35,6 vs. 7° día: 41,3; P ≤ 0,001). No obstante, la evolución de todos los parámetros de color resultó músculo dependiente (P≤ 0,001). El músculo ST mostró los valores más altos en Luminosidad (L*), índice de rojo (a*) y Color (C*), frente a los demás músculos evaluados, a excepción del día 6o , donde el músculo SM mostró valores similares. Los índices de tono fueron aumentando durante la conservación, registrándose los más altos en los músculos GB y PS al día 7. Estos resultados sugieren diferentes estrategias de venta en función del tipo de corte, sobre todo si el sistema de empaque es permeable al oxígeno. La indicación en las bandejas con la fecha de empaque, señalando el período durante el cual el color no sufre mayores alteraciones, aparece como una práctica aconsejable de comercialización, en función de lo determinante que resulta esta característica en la decisión de compra.

En la Estación Experimental “Dr. Mario A. Cassinoni” (EEMAC) de la Facultad de Agronomía (Paysandú, Uruguay; 32,5º de latitud sur y 58º de longitud oeste), se estudió el efecto del peso vivo al inicio del confinamiento (24,9 ± 3,4 y 34,1 ± 3,1 kg) y del genotipo (Poll Dorset x Corriedale, Dohne Merino X Corriedale, Southdown x Corriedale y Highlander x Corriedale) sobre características de canal y de la carne de corderos pesados criados a pasto y terminados en confinamiento. Se utilizó un diseño experimental completamente aleatorizado con arreglo factorial de tratamientos y 3 repeticiones de cuatro corderos cada una. El uso de razas carniceras en cruzamientos terminales y el peso vivo al inicio del confinamiento originaron diferencias en características de canal, sin registrarse mayores cambios en las variables de calidad de carne, que dependieron del tipo de músculo evaluado.

Se estudió el efecto del tipo genético (corderos Corriedale puros y cruza Hampshire Down x Corriedale) y del tiempo de maduración (1, 2, 4, 8 ó 16 días) sobre la calidad sensorial ( prueba de consumidores) de la carne (músculos: Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus y Gluteo biceps) de 50 corderos con un peso canal de 17.7± 2.3 kg. Los consumidores detectaron diferencias en la terneza atribuibles al genotipo y al tipo de músculo. La carne de los corderos Corriedale resultó más tierna (escala: 1-10) que las de los cruza, sólo con 1 día de maduración (5.90 vs 5.38, respectivamente; p≤0.05). A su vez, la carne del músculo Semitendinosus resultó más tierna, de mejor sabor y en definitiva más aceptable que la carne proveniente del músculo Semimembranosus (p≤0.01), presentando la carne del músculo Gluteo biceps valores intermedios. La interacción tipo de músculo x tiempo de maduración resultó altamente significativa (p≤0.0001) para todos los atributos evaluados por los consumidores. Las diferencias en todos los atributos de la carne evaluados por los consumidores entre los diferentes músculos tendieron a disminuir (terneza) o bien desaparecieron (calidad de sabor y aceptabilidad), conforme avanzaba la maduración. Estos resultados sugieren que el efecto de la maduración postmortem a 4o C sobre la calidad sensorial de la carne de cordero es -al menos- tan importante como las diferencias entre músculos disímiles, pudiendo sobreponerse a ellas y homogeneizar productos que en un principio son diferentes.

Se estudió el efecto de la duración del transporte, posición en el camión y tiempo de espera en matadero sobre los niveles de cortisol en plasma sanguíneo y sobre algunos parámetros de la calidad de canal y de la carne de 216 corderos pesados Corridale y cruza Hampshire Down y Southdown x Xorridale. Los animales se criaron sobre pasturas sembradas. Los sacrificios se realizaron a fecho fija con una edad (promedio ± DE) de 142 ± 11.9 días de edad, un peso vivo (promedio ± DE) de 31.8 ± 5.67-kg y un estado corporal (promedio ± DE) de 3.53 ± 0.25. Independientemente de los tratamientos se registró un incremento (p=0.0001) en los niveles de cortisol plasmático de los corderos desde el arribo de los animales al frigorífico, y llegando al punto máximo en el momento del degüelle. De todas formas, ningún tratamiento supuso un compromiso serio para el bienestar animal y tampoco afectó las características de calidad de canal y carne.

We present the results of a project aimed to evaluate 2D and 3D face recognition algorithms. In particular, we focused on the potentialities of 3D-based techniques to overcome typical limitations of 2D methods in non-controlled situations. According to the reference scenario of people identification at airport check points, we built a representative database on which we tested different face recognition algorithms. We implemented and tested an improved version of a well-known state-of-the-art 3D approach, and verified that on our dataset it performs better than a widely used commercial system.

The paper describes a method for people detection and tracking from multi-camera views. The proposed approach is based on 3D models of the person shape, where motion tracking is carried out in 3D space with re-projection onto calibrated images to perform target validation according to a prediction-verification paradigm. Multiple cameras with partial overlap can be used to cover a much wider area. The referred examples are based on the data base from PETS 2006 video sequences and a data base from EU-ISCAPS demonstration environment.

Se estudió el efecto del peso al sacrificio (45 corderos livianos: 22,3 ± 2,8 kg y 60 ± 2,4 días de edad y 21 corderos pesados: 43,1 ± 6,3 kg de peso vivo y 169 ± 8,9 días de edad) sobre la calidad de la canal y de la carne de 24 hembras, 23 machos criptórquidos y 19 corderos castrados Corriedale puros (n= 21), Hampshire Down x Corriedale (n= 23) y Southdown x Corriedale (n= 22). El peso al sacrificio afectó (P=0,05) todas las características de la canal evaluadas. Los corderos pesados presentaran mejor conformación (0,320 vs. 0,190 kg/cm, 1,09 vs. 1,07, 55,7 vs. 51,9 compacidad de la canal y de la pierna de corderos pesados y livianos, respectivamente), superior grado de engrasamiento (15,7 vs. 7,3 mm punto GR de canales de corderos pesados y livianos, respectivamente) y composición tisular más favorable (2,8 vs. 1,8 carne/ hueso, 2,4 vs. 2,1 carne/ grasa, corderos pesados y livianos, respectivamente). Sin embargo, las canales de corderos livianos presentaron un mejor rendimiento comercial de cortes nobles que las de los corderos pesados. De las características de calidad instrumental de la carne sólo el pH resultó modificado por efecto del peso al sacrificio. Sensorialmente el sexo del cordero y el tipo genético afectaron sólo la variable terneza, resultando más tierna la carne de corderas hembras o machos castrados versus corderos criptórquidos, particularmente si eran cruza. El peso al sacrificio afectó todas las características organolépticas, recibiendo la carne de corderos pesados mejor puntaje en terneza, calidad de sabor y aceptabilidad por los consumidores.

This paper describes a technique for designing two-di mensional (2-D) recursive digital filters with an infinite impulse response which is a "one-sided" array, according to the most general form for a recursive system. If we confine the impulse response to a triangular sector of the half-plane, it is possible to design such filters (?) by using a simple variable transformation starting from a classical one-quadrant recursive interpolated filter. With a slightly increased number of coefficients it is possible to get very good frequency responses in terms of amplitude and phase specifications. Several examples are presented in order to illustrate the method and to compare it with existing techniques.

The problems of stability analysis and design of 3-D recursive filters are discussed in the paper. Two different design techniques are proposed in the first case the 3-D filter is required to approximate a given amplitude function; in the second case linear phase specifications are considered. An example of smoothing of a 3-D binary object is presented with application in computer assisted neurosurgery.

A new solution is proposed for 3D scene analysis in security and surveillance applications. It is based on binocular stereo-vision using a prediction-verification paradigm. Adaptive change-motion detection is performed at video rate to detect moving objects in the scene. 3D information is recovered by "scanning" the scene along parallel planes at different heights. Prediction of stereo correspondence is performed through homographic transformation on the set of the selected 3D planes, to verify whether the detected change is really a moving 3D object crossing that plane, or it is just a phantom caused by shadows or highlights. Object segmentation and tracking is performed on the projected ground floor by clustering the detected features at different heights.

Multimedia technology provides improved solutions to allow access to distributed resources and data in a variety of applications. There are examples of implementation in different domains, from commercial distribution through electronic commerce to virtual museums and dissemination of cultural information. In particular in the Cultural Heritage area there are already many different implementations of high quality services which are distributed either through specialised CD's or through the Internet. The paper refers an experience which has been performed by Elsag SpA, in cooperation with Florence Archivio di State, to exploit the use of multimedia technology in the area of Virtual Exhibition, in order to maintain a memory of temporary events which otherwise, after the closure of the event itself are bound to disappear. The experiment has been implemented with the use of consolidated tools and techniques and demonstrates the maturity of available technology as well as its limitations and need of improvement.

The paper describes an application of computer vision in the autonomous guidance of a traditional forklift truck, ROBOLIFT, which is a product of Elsag Bailey Telerobot and FIAT OM. Computer vision represents the main sensory system for both navigation and load recognition. The system is now shifting from the prototype stage to production and commercialization. Field tests have been carried out and results are reported.

The paper describes an application of computer vision in the autonomous guidance of a traditional forklift truck, ROBOLIFT(TM), which is a product of Elsag Bailey Telerobot and FIAT OM. Computer vision represents the main sensory system for both navigation and load recognition. Artificial "H-shaped" landmarks placed along the truck path are used for the vehicle pose detection. Standard Europallets, supporting the loads to be transported, are recognized by the vision system in order to provide their estimated pose to the automatic fork control subsystem. The system is now tested in real industrial applications and preliminary results are reported.

The paper describes an integrated mobile robot which has been designed and realised on top of a conventional fork lift carrier, to perform autonomous missions as well as to keep all the conventional drive actuators for the human driver. The most challenging goal of the project has been to provide the vehicle with the sensory capability and local intelligence, which is typical of the human driver, without altering the conventional driving control, such as the pedal control of the accelerator (forward and backward), the emergency brake, the direct steering wheel control. Computer vision is proved to be the main sensory system for both autonomous navigation and pallet recognition. ROBOLIFT is the result of a joint co-operation between Elsag Bailey Telerobot and Fiat OM Carrelli Elevatori SpA.

Apoptosis has been reported to occur both during the course of kidney development and the progression of kidney injury to scarring. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), a component of the IGF system, has been shown to induce apoptosis in cancer cell lines. However, if IGFBP-3 has similar effects in human mesangial cells (HMC) remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of IGFBP-3 and its possible effect on the induction of apoptosis in HMC during serum deprivation. We have observed that IGFBP-3 accumulates progressively in HMC in which serum has been withdrawn. In these cells, an increase of IGFBP-3 is observed before the production of apoptosis suggesting a link between these phenomena. Furthermore, the addition of IGFBP-3 in physiological amounts (from 100 to 400 ng/ml) to culture medium devoid of growth factors accelerates and increases the apoptotic process with a dose-dependent effect. These findings suggest that IGFBP-3 is a mediator of cell death in human mesangial cells when the availability of growth factors is curtailed. These data also suggest that IGFBP-3 could contribute to apoptotic processes observed in human disease.

The effect of the sire breed (Corriedale: C; Texel: TX; Hampshire Down: HD; Southdown: SD and Suffolk : SF) on the performance of 500 C sheep lambing and growth rate, live weight, fat score, hot and cold carcass and tissue thickness in the GR point of heavy lambs was evaluated. Sheep were mated in autumn. From lambing and until shipment date, the animals grazed in a pasture of Trifolium repens, Lotus corniculatus and Festuca arundinacea. Death rate of lambs was low (9%) and proportion of assisted deliveries was less than 4 %. For both variables the higher values were for the SF mated ewes. The crossbreeding showed comparative advantages over the pure breed concerning born live weight (3,5; 3,6; 3,9; 4,0 and 3,4 kg; SD, TX, HD, SF, C, respectively; P

Publisher Summary One of the most important objectives of advanced research institutions is the promotion of industrial exploitation of research results with particular attention to A.I. technologies that have received significant research funds. This chapter describes recent experience in exploiting computer vision technology in transport service automation, following the necessary fundamental steps of basic research development, laboratory prototype implementation, and the final acquisition of a strong integration knowledge and expertise. Vision processing is performed primarily to support autonomous navigation. Through the recognition and 3D location of some artificial landmarks (H shaped) placed on the floor along the planned navigation path, the vision system is able to self-localize the vehicle in the scene, by integrating this information with the odometric values coming from sensors on the wheels. The achieved results consist of the integration of an autonomous fork-lift carrier that can be also driven in the conventional way by the human operator. The system makes use of model based passive vision techniques, without any external active lighting support. The extensive experimental results collected during many hours of test demonstrate a high maturity of vision technology in advanced mobile robotics, to come out from the research labs and be used as an established and accepted technology in industrial automation.

In this paper a technique for 3D surface reconstruction from stereo segments by using a constrained 2D Delaunay triangulation in the image plane is described. The proposed approach provides an appropriate tessellation of stereo data, being consistent with the visibility constraints of the imaging system. It results in a scene surface representation suitable for various applications of computer vision, as 3D object recognition and obstacle detection. Results and comparisons between our approach and Delaunay tetrahedralization are illustrated on real data together with some considerations about computational complexity and running time efficiency.

This paper describes a technique to design half-plane recursive filters with symmetric impulse response which have support on a triangular domain. By using a simple axis rotation, it is possible to design such filters in the first quadrant of the space domain. This procedure leads to a special class of half-plane filters which exhibit the best behavior along the main axes and require fewer coefficients than the general half-plane structure. Examples are included to demonstrate the usefulness of this approach.

This paper deals with two-dimensional wave equation migration in seismic Signal processing according to a frequency domain model. The required ideal phase specifications are approximated by a 2-D all-pass digital filter with symmetric half-plane hyperbolic impulse response. Examples are included to compare this recursive filtering approach with existing processing techniques.

A non-linear space-variant operator is proposed, in order to separate the two additive components of an image: the background which includes the main transitions of the scene and the difference signal which contains details and texture information of the picture. This image model turns out to be a quite useful in most picture processing applications and it is consistent with visual perception constraints. In particular, restoration in separately performed on the two image components, since linear degradations mainly affect the background while the details are highly corrupted by noise. The examples included demonstrate the usefulness of this approach.

In the proposed method the focus sharpness of edge points in a recorded image is used to estimate their actual position in the 3-D space. As a matter of fact, the amount of blurring in a picture depends on the distance of the object details from the plane which is “in focus” in the observed scene. Henceforth, from such measures it is possible to roughly provide depth estimates on strong edges of a recorded image. Moreover, sharpness estimates can be effectively used as additional features of the detected contours in other problems of image registration (stereo and motion). This approach can be used to roughly provide depth estimates on strong edges of a recorded image; some examples are enclosed to show its performance on a set of real scenes.

In most application of diagnostic imaging the amount of digitized information (up to 4096 grey levels per pixel) cannot be detected by the human observer as a whole, so that it is common practice to interactively select a suitable intensity window for the display, sometimes with saturation effects. To overcome this problem many different contrast stretching approaches have been proposed, to almost equalize the diagnostic information on the image. The solution proposed here is based on a non-linear transformation, acting as an adaptive histogram equalization of the local differences, in the hypothesis of gaussian distributions. The obtained results are closely related to other enhancement methods, with some advantage in the look-up filter implementation. The computational cost of the realization is evaluated, as well as the loss of performance determined by suboptimal block-processing and bilinear interpolation. Examples are referred in the contrast enhancement of C.T. images and digitized X-Rays.

In the uruguayan Basalt region, the reproductive performance of 300 Merino ewes and the effect of 3 post-weaning feeding managements (PWFM: I: 1.2 cm height of available forage and 16 ewes/ha; II: 2.03 cm height of available forage and 5 ewes/ha; III: 2.5cm height of available forage and 1 ewe/ha) as well as 2 feeding levels before and during the breeding season (FLM: native pastures: green DM/ha: 883kg, CP: 114g/kg DM, NDF: 781g/kg DM and improved pastures: DM /ha: 1270kg, CP: 194g/kg DM, NDF: 598g/kg DM) were studied with a factorial arrangement of treatments. The PWFM extended for 70 days, ewes were mated in the period from 13/4/96 to 13/5/96 and FLM were applied for 30 days, starting 15 days before beginning of breeding. There were not differences on the ovulation rate (P>0.05); however, the P values might indicate some effect of the treatments. The number of born lambs/ewe served increased with the ovulation rate because the higher number of ovulations balanced their less viability, individually considered. Actually, the number of born lambs/ewe served was higher with animals coming from PWFM III (1.18, 1.11 and 0.96, PWFM III, II and I, respectively; P = 0.02) and with the animals grazing on improved pastures at mating period (1.13 and 1.03, improved pastures and natural pastures, respectively; P = 0.10), were those which showed slight higher ovulation rate.

Non applicabile