Overnutrition or undernutrition during all or part of the reproductive cycle predisposes sows to metabolic consequences and poor reproductive health which contributes to a decrease in sow longevity and an increase in perinatal mortality. This represents not only an economic problem for the pig industry but also results in poor animal welfare. To maximise profitability and increase sustainability in pig production, it is pivotal to provide researchers and practitioners with synthesised information about the repercussions of maternal obesity or malnutrition on reproductive health and perinatal outcomes, and to pinpoint currently available nutritional managements to keep sows’ body condition in an optimal range. Thus, the present review summarises recent work on the consequences of maternal malnutrition and highlights new findings.

In this paper, we describe the system design and capabilities of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope at the conclusion of its construction project and commencement of science operations. ASKAP is one of the first radio telescopes to deploy phased array feed (PAF) technology on a large scale, giving it an instantaneous field of view that covers $31\,\textrm{deg}^{2}$ at $800\,\textrm{MHz}$. As a two-dimensional array of 36$\times$12 m antennas, with baselines ranging from 22 m to 6 km, ASKAP also has excellent snapshot imaging capability and 10 arcsec resolution. This, combined with 288 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth and a unique third axis of rotation on each antenna, gives ASKAP the capability to create high dynamic range images of large sky areas very quickly. It is an excellent telescope for surveys between 700 and $1800\,\textrm{MHz}$ and is expected to facilitate great advances in our understanding of galaxy formation, cosmology, and radio transients while opening new parameter space for discovery of the unknown.

The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) is the first large-area survey to be conducted with the full 36-antenna Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. RACS will provide a shallow model of the ASKAP sky that will aid the calibration of future deep ASKAP surveys. RACS will cover the whole sky visible from the ASKAP site in Western Australia and will cover the full ASKAP band of 700–1800 MHz. The RACS images are generally deeper than the existing NRAO VLA Sky Survey and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey radio surveys and have better spatial resolution. All RACS survey products will be public, including radio images (with $\sim$ 15 arcsec resolution) and catalogues of about three million source components with spectral index and polarisation information. In this paper, we present a description of the RACS survey and the first data release of 903 images covering the sky south of declination $+41^\circ$ made over a 288-MHz band centred at 887.5 MHz.

We describe the performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array, the prototype for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. Boolardy Engineering Test Array is the first aperture synthesis radio telescope to use phased array feed technology, giving it the ability to electronically form up to nine dual-polarisation beams. We report the methods developed for forming and measuring the beams, and the adaptations that have been made to the traditional calibration and imaging procedures in order to allow BETA to function as a multi-beam aperture synthesis telescope. We describe the commissioning of the instrument and present details of Boolardy Engineering Test Array’s performance: sensitivity, beam characteristics, polarimetric properties, and image quality. We summarise the astronomical science that it has produced and draw lessons from operating Boolardy Engineering Test Array that will be relevant to the commissioning and operation of the final Australian Square Kilometre Array Path telescope.

The Parkes radio telescope was commissioned in 1961, with an anticipated operational life of 15 years. Twentyfive years later the telescope has been refurbished with the aim of extending its life yet another decade or two. A major undertaking has been the complete replacement of the drive and control System. This presentation outlines the main features of the new System and its effect on the observing facilities offered at the observatory.

Three hog genotypes are simulated to determine how producer profits, economically optimal slaughter weights, and carcass component weights change under three pricing models. Live weight pricing pays more for the fatter barrows whereas a three component (separate payments for fat, lean, and byproducts) and six component (separate payments for major primal cuts, other lean, fat, and byproducts) pricing system pay more for the leaner gilts. Implications for selection of genetic stock and pricing system are presented.

This paper describes the system architecture of a newly constructed radio telescope – the Boolardy engineering test array, which is a prototype of the Australian square kilometre array pathfinder telescope. Phased array feed technology is used to form multiple simultaneous beams per antenna, providing astronomers with unprecedented survey speed. The test array described here is a six-antenna interferometer, fitted with prototype signal processing hardware capable of forming at least nine dual-polarisation beams simultaneously, allowing several square degrees to be imaged in a single pointed observation. The main purpose of the test array is to develop beamforming and wide-field calibration methods for use with the full telescope, but it will also be capable of limited early science demonstrations.

Protein accretion curves were derived using food intake, growth and body composition data from a total of 320 pigs, which comprised castrated males and gilts from five genotypes. The 32 pigs from each genotype/sex subclass were offered ad libitum a series of isoenergetic diets (13·8 MJ metabolizable energy per kg) designed to provide a non-limiting intake of nutrients and to allow maximum protein deposition rates. Four pigs from each subclass weren slaughtered at each of the live weights (kg) 25, 44, 65, 85, 100, 115, 130 and 150. Daily food intake (dF/dt) was described as an increasing exponential function of age (t), live weight (W) as an increasing exponential function of cumulative food consumed (F), and protein weight (Pr) as an allometric function of live weight (W). The rate of protein accretion in the body of pigs [d(Pr)/dt] was calculated as d(Pr)/dt = (dF/dt).(dW/dF).(dPr)/dW). Bootstrap procedures were used to estimate standard errors for the food intake, growth and compositional parameters and to obtain the confidence bands for the dependent variables (dF/dt, W, Pr and d(Pt)/dt).

Protein accretion rate as a function of live weight was curvilinear, increasing to a maximum, then decreasing with increasing live weight. There were significant differences between subclasses in the maximum rate of protein accretion, although there was no relationship between this rate and the live weight, stage of maturity, or age at which maximum protein accretion occurred. Describing protein accretion as a multiplicative function of food intake, food efficiency and the partitioning of nutrients in the body allowed changes in the magnitude and shape of the protein accretion curve to be ascribed to one, or a combination, of the above mechanisms.

Growth modelling was used to characterize the response to digestible lysine in two experiments (114 gilts in experiment 1 and 96 gilts in experiment 2) from 34 to 72·5 kg and 72·5 to 136 kg, respectively. Maize-soya-bean meal diets were formulated to assure that lysine (5·4 to 10·4 and 5·4 to 9·4 g digestible lysine per kg for experiments 1 and 2, respectively) was the first limiting amino acid. Analysis of variance was used to test linear and quadratic responses in cumulative weight gain on test as digestible lysine increased. A time × digestible lysine interaction (linear, P < 0·001) was detected, indicating that a separate regression equation for each lysine level was necessary. In experiment 1, average daily gain (ADG) and carcass crude protein (CP) accretion were maximized for gilts given 10·4, 9·4 and 8·4 g digestible lysine per kg from 34 to 44 kg, 44 to 54 kg, and 54 to 72·5 kg, respectively. Lipid accretion was minimized for gilts given 7·4 to 8·4 g digestible lysine per kg. In experiment 2, ADG was maximized by feeding 8·4 g/kg from 72·5 to 92·5 kg and 7·4 g/kg from 92·5 to 136 kg. Carcass CP accretion was maximized by feeding 9·4 g digestible lysine per kg, whereas lipid accretion was minimized for gilts given 8·4 g digestible lysine per kg from 72·5 to 136 kg. If feeding graded levels of digestible lysine resulted in parallel lines for protein accretion, mean values would result in accurate data evaluation. However, responses to digestible lysine changed over the feeding period. Therefore, the use of body weight and compositional growth curves offers an approach to more accurately characterize the growing pig's response to increased digestible lysine.

A linked submillimeter-wave interferometer using the CSO 10.4 m and the JCMT 15 m telescopes located on Mauna Kea at an elevation of 4200 m, has been built and tested successfully. The capabilities of the instrument and an outline of the type of observations that can be made with a single, fixed-baseline interferometer are given. In particular, an experiment to detect gas infalling onto low-mass protostellar sources is proposed. The design of the instrument is described briefly and the successful results of the first tests are summarized.

Wool growth on tattoo patches and mitotic activity in follicle bulbs were studied in a sheep on low and high levels of nutrient intake. The rate of wool growth on the high intake was 156% greater than that on the low intake while the rate of cell production from the follicle bulbs was 56% greater. The remainder of the increase in rate of fibre output was attributed to an increase of about 64 % in the volume of the individual cells of the fibres.