Phenotypic,genetic, and single nucleotide polymorphism marker associations between calf diseases and subsequent performance and disease occurrences of first-lactation German Holstein cows

A total of 31,396 females born from 2010 to 2013 in 43 large-scale Holstein-Friesian herds were phenotyped for calf and cow disease traits using a veterinarian diagnosis key. Calf diseases were general disease status (cGDS), calf diarrhea (cDIA), and calf respiratory disease (cRD) recorded from birth to 2 mo of age. Incidences were 0.48 for cGDS, 0.28 for cRD, and 0.21 for cDIA. Cow disease trait recording focused on the early period directly after calving in first parity, including the interval from 10 d before calving to 200 d in lactation. For cows, at least one entry for the respective disease implied a score = 1 (sick); otherwise, score = 0 (healthy). Corresponding cow diseases were first-lactation general disease status (flGDS), first-lactation diarrhea (flDIA), and first-lactation respiratory disease (flRD). Additional cow disease categories included mastitis (flMAST), claw disorders (flCLAW), female fertility disorders (flFF), and metabolic disorders (flMET). A further cow trait category considered first-lactation test-day production traits from official test-days 1 and 2 after calving. The genotype data set included 41,256 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 9,388 females with phenotypes. Linear and generalized linear mixed models with a logit link-function were applied to Gaussian and categorical cow traits, respectively, considering the calf disease as a fixed effect. Most of the calf diseases were not significantly associated with the occurrence of any cow disease. By trend, increasing risks for the occurrence of cow diseases were observed for healthy calves, indicating mechanisms of disease resistance with aging. Also by trend, occurrence of calf diseases was associated with decreasing milk, protein, and fat yields. Univariate linear and threshold animal models were used to estimate heritabilities and breeding values (EBV) for all calf and cow traits. Heritabilities for cGDS and cRD were 0.06 and 0.07 for cDIA. Genetic correlations among all traits were estimated using linear-linear animal models in a series of bivariate runs. The genetic correlation between cDIA and cRD was 0.29. Apart from the genetic correlation between flRD with cGDS (?0.38), EBV correlations and genetic correlations between calf diseases with all cow traits were close to zero. Genome-wide association studies were applied to estimate SNP effects for cRD and cDIA, and for the corresponding traits observed in cows (flRD and flDIA). Different significant SNP markers contributed to cDIA and flDIA, or to cRD and flRD. The average correlation coefficient between cRD and flRD considering SNP effects from all chromosomes was 0.01, and between cDIA and flDIA was ?0.04. In conclusion, calf diseases are not appropriate early predictors for cow traits during the early lactation stage in parity 1.     

Fatigue life determination of plasma nitrided medical grade CoCrMo alloy

In this paper, the fatigue behaviour of plasma nitrided medical grade forged CoCrMo alloy was studied. Since metallic biomaterials are used for implant applications where high and/or cyclic stresses along with corrosive effects of human body are of concern, enhancing mechanical and surface properties of implant alloys is crucial. Plasma nitriding was implemented at three different temperatures as 600, 700 and 800 °C for time intervals of 1 and 4 h. S–N curves of untreated and nitrided specimens were obtained via axial tension compression fatigue tests. It was found that plasma nitriding treatment reduces the fatigue resistance of forged CoCrMo alloy by the ratios of 7–23% depending on the surface roughness, phase structure and hardness of the modified layer which are determined by the treatment parameters.     

Remote sensing of beach erosion along the Rosetta promontary,northwestern Nile delta,Egypt

The pattern of shoreline changes was identified along the Rosetta promontory of the Nile delta using Landsat-MSS taken in 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1985, and 1991 together with an aerial photograph of 1955. The satellite images were processed using change detection analyses to locate shoreline positions. These measurements provided a viable means for establishing long-term shoreline changes. The results reveal longshore patterns of beach erosion and accretion. The rate of the shoreline retreat has the greatest value along the promontory tip up to ?70·8m yr^?1. This erosion progressively decreases with the longshore distance, being reversed to accretion within the promontory saddle and along Abu Quir Bay up to 38·2m yr^?1 In comparison with independent ground survey data, the established trend of coastal changes was found to be closely consistent with that measured by the beach profilesurvey. The detected pattern of erosion versus the accretion along this part of the delta reflected the natural processes of wave-induced longshore currents and sediment transport.     

Modeling and optimization of a bioethanol production facility

The overall objective of this study is to identify the optimal bioethanol production plant capacity, configuration, and operating conditions, based on currently available technology for all the processing sections involved. To effect this study, a systematic method is utilized which involves the development of a process flow-sheet and superstructure for the overall technology selection. It also includes simulation as well as mathematical model development for each processing step. The optimality of each process pathway is determined via economic analysis. The developed optimization model also incorporates various biomass feedstocks as well as realistic upper and lower limit equipment sizes thereby ensuring pragmatism of the work. For this study, the criterion for optimization is minimum ethanol price. The secondary objective of this study attempts to mathematically model the seasonal variation in availability of biomass feedstock. This sub-model is incorporated into the overall model and economic evaluations done to determine the minimum ethanol selling price and optimal plant capacity.     

Enhanced angular current intensity from Schottky emitters

Even though the Schottky emitter is a high‐brightness source of choice for electron beam systems, its angular current intensity is substantially lower than that of thermionic cathodes, rendering the emitter impractical for applications that require high beam current. In this study, two strategies were attempted to enhance its angular intensity, and their experimental results are reported. The first scheme is to employ a higher extraction field for increasing the brightness. However, the tip shape transformation was found to induce undesirably elevated emission from the facet edges at high fields. The second scheme exploits the fact that the angular intensity is proportional to the square of the electron gun focal length [ Fujita, S. & Shimoyama, H. (2005) Theory of cathode trajectory characterization by canonical mapping transformation. J. Electron Microsc. 54 , 331–343], which can be increased by scaling‐up the emitter tip radius. A high angular current intensity (J_Ω∼ 1.5 mA sr⁻¹) was obtained from a scaled‐up emitter. Preliminary performance tests were conducted on an electron probe‐forming column by substituting the new emitter for the original tungsten filament gun. The beam current up to a few microamperes was achieved with submicron spatial resolution.     

Surface selectivity competition of newly synthesized polyarylidene(keto amine) polymers toward different metal ions

A new series of polyarylidene(keto amine)s (PAKAs) 3_a?3_e based on thiophene moieties in polymer main chains were synthesized with the solution polycondensation technique. The polymers were synthesized by the reaction of the new monomer 1,1′‐(1E,1′E)‐(2‐oxocyclohexane‐1,3‐diylidene)bis(methanylylidene)bis(thiophene‐5,2‐diyl)bis(2‐chloroethanone) ( 2 ) with different diamines. The new monomer was first synthesized under the normal conditions of the Friedel–Crafts reaction. The results obtained from both elemental and spectral analyses were consistent with the chemical structure of the new monomers and the polymers. Moreover, the identification of the polymers was carried out with different characterization techniques. The analytical competition of the newly synthesized PAKA polymers as selected examples ( 3_d and 3_e ) was also evaluated for a selective extraction of metal ions, including Cd(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cr(III), Fe(III), Ni(II), and Zn(II), before their determination by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry. The results of the selectivity study demonstrated that the 3_d and 3_e polymers was the most selective toward Co(II) and Fe(III), respectively. However, the adsorption capacity of 3_d for Co(II) was improved by 10.10% in comparison to that of 3_e for Fe(III) after only 1 h of contact time. Moreover, the adsorption isotherm data also showed that the adsorption process was mainly monolayer on the homogeneous adsorbent surfaces of both polymers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40873.