Genetic methods of improving dairy cattle for the south: a review and prospects from Regional Project S-49

Objectives of Southern Regional Research Project S-49, comprising eight contributing experiment stations, are to determine direct response to selection in milk and the resultant correlated responses in nonyield traits, to define and evaluate selection criteria for total economic merit or profit, to quantify genetic and environmental components of underlying physiological characters responsible for genetic gains in economically important traits, to determine interactions of genotype by environment, and to estimate genetic values for males and females. More than 150 scientific articles from S-49 have been published in journals from 1975 to 1985. These results have contributed in a major way in identifying issues and understanding the genetic control of cow performance and economics of genetic improvement programs.     

Effect of diet on animal performance, lipid composition of subcutaneous adipose and liver tissue of beef cattle

Two trials were carried out with Brahman beef cattle to study animal performance and carcass characteristics as well as fatty acid composition of subcutaneous adipose and hepatic tissue, as influence by length of grain feeding period or a pasturing regimen. In trial 1, steers were allotted to three feedlot finishing periods (76, 104 and 146 days) after being backgrounded on pasture. Steers fed 76 days had greater average daily gains (P < 0·05) than steers fed 146 and 104 days, respectively. Carcasses of steers slaughtered after 146 days on feed had higher (P < 0·05) marbling scores, quality grades, fat over ribeye, quality yield and per cent kidney, pelvic and heart (KPH) fat than steers fed for 104 and 76 days. The proprortions of certain fatty acid of subcutaneous fat and liver tissue were influenced by the length of grain feeding. There was a marked increased in the proportion of oleic acid in both tissues as the steers remained longer in the feedlot and a higher percentage of total saturated fatty acids at 76 days than at the other two times. Quantitative separation of hepatic lipid classes by the Iatroscan revealed that phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine were the main components of the phospholipids. Presents as minor components were cardiolipin and sphingomyelin. No differences (P > 0.·05) in these individual subclasses of liver lipids or in triglycerides were observed between the feedlot groups. Liver polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were higher (P < 0·001) at 104 than 76 days. In trial 2, steers fed a concentrate diet gained faster (P < 0·05) than the pasture group after 138 days. Marbling scores, yield grade, quality grade, fat over ribeye and per cent KPH were higher (P < 0·01) for the concentrate group while fat color scores were higher (P < 0·01) for the pasture group. Liver fatty acid analysis of summed ω6 PUFAs of triglyceride, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine were higher for the feedlot than the pasture group. Linoleic acid was higher (P < 0·05) in the TG and PC liver subclass of the feedlot animals while higher (P < 0·05) linolenic acid occurred in the pasture group.     

Fretting of Hardened Steel in Oil

To determine the effect of hardness on fretting wear, tests of AISI 4340 steel were made in an oil bath using a new machine designed to make fretting corrosion tests with a wide range of parameters. Hardness values from 258 to 743 Vickers were tested, the hardest specimen having a nitrided surface. The fretting action used, 0.005 in. reciprocating motion at pressures from 430 psi to 5840 psi, produced much less fretting than similar tests in air, with little or no oxide products resulting. The galled areas were measured for depth of pit and height of deposit with the results indicating some small effects due to hardness up to 460 Vickers. The nitrided specimens, however, produced smaller fretted areas and the roughening of their surfaces was shallow.     

An autonomous phase-boundary detection technique for colloidal hard sphere suspension experiments

Colloidal suspensions of monodisperse spheres are used as physical models of thermodynamic phase transitions and as precursors to photonic band gap materials. Current techniques for identifying the phase boundaries involve manually identifying the phase transitions, which is very tedious and time-consuming. In addition, current image analysis techniques are not able to distinguish between densely packed phases within conventional microscope images, which are mainly characterized by degrees of randomness or order with similar grayscale value properties. We have developed an intelligent machine vision technique that automatically identifies colloidal phase boundaries. The technique utilizes intelligent image processing algorithms that accurately identify and track phase changes vertically or horizontally for a sequence of colloidal hard sphere suspension images. This technique is readily adaptable to any imaging application wherein regions of interest are distinguished from the background by differing patterns of motion over time.     

Rheological study of crosslinking and gelation in chlorobutyl elastomer systems

The multiple waveform rheological technique was used to study the crosslinking behaviour of a filled elastomeric system at various temperatures. The gel point could be precisely determined from a single experiment at each temperature using this technique. At the instant of gelation, the storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli scale with frequency in an identical manner, i.e. ωⁿ. The relaxation exponent, n was found to be approximately constant (0.14) in the temperature range studied. Reported values of n for chemically crosslinking systems are typically higher; the low value in this case can be attributed to the high molecular weight of the prepolymer and the presence of filler. The gel times at various temperatures were used to calculate an apparent activation energy of the curing reaction, which was found to be approximately 92 kJ mol⁻¹.     

JAVACAM: trimming Java down to size

JavaCam is an embedded sensor device that connects to the Internet and operates with as little as 1.5 Mbytes of total system memory. To determine how small a Java system we could build that would still support a Java Virtual Machine, we wrote the Java Nanokernel, a very thin operating system. We then ported Sun's Java Development Kit 1.0.1 to JN. This port included the complete Java language and all of the core Java packages except java.awt. In this article, we begin by describing JN and the port of JDK 1.0.1 to it. We then describe our first significant application, JavaCam, a camera that is remotely programmable in Java and Internet accessible     

Survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and non-pathogenic E. coli on irradiated and non-irradiated beef surfaces

This study examined changes in numbers of pathogenic (PEC) and non-pathogenic (NPEC) Escherichia coli during storage at 10 °C on the surfaces of irradiated (IR) and non-irradiated (NIR) meat pieces excised from the neck, brisket and rump of beef carcasses and in Brain Heart Infusion Broth (BHI) and Maximum Recovery Diluent (MRD). On irradiated meat pieces, there were significant differences between mean PEC and NPEC counts at all sites. Differences in counts were also observed between IR and NIR surfaces and among the three meat sites for both E. coli types. These differences occurred only on IR samples, suggesting that the irradiation associated reductions in normal beef surface flora influenced survival of both E. coli types. PEC and NPEC counts increased during storage in BHI, but only NPEC counts increased in MRD. The results of this study highlight the impact of meat surface type and the presence/absence of the normal beef carcass surface flora on E. coli survival and/or growth during meat storage. Such previously unreported effects, and their precise mechanisms, have direct implications in the development and application of accurate models for the prediction of the safety and shelf life of stored meat.     

SOLVENT EXTRACTION OF RADIUM AND BARIUM CATIONS INTO CHLOROFORM BY A LIPOPHILIC ACYCLIC POLYETHER DICARBOXYLIC ACID

The lipophilic acyclic polyether carboxylic acid bls-l,8(2 -carboxy-3-naphthoxy)-3,6-dioxaoctane exhibits selectivity for Ra²⁺ over Ba²⁺ in competitive extractions into chloroform. Solubility characteristics of the compound suggest that the addition of branched alkyl substituents would be required to make it a practical separation agent.