Modified parameter-setting-free harmony search (PSFHS) algorithm for optimizing the design of reinforced concrete beams

Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization - The design of RC members with nontraditional methods is demanding due to the large number of unknown variables inherent in the design process. The...     

Preparation of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene membrane: Investigation of solvent/nonsolvent type and additive concentration

In the present study, preparation of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) membrane was investigated via phase inversion method. ABS membrane is sensitive to preparation conditions. Therefore, the effect of solvent/nonsolvent type and concentration of additive and ABS was evaluated on the morphology, tensile strength and car wash wastewater treatment. Polyethylene glycol was used as an additive. The results show that nonsolvent type significantly affects the morphology and consequently the flux and rejections of the pollution indices. Increasing concentration of additive and ABS in the casting solution leads to formation of denser and thinner membranes that have lower flux and higher rejections of the pollution indices.     

α-MnO2 Nanorods’ Magnetocaloric Effect for Hydrogen Liquefaction

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - The magnetocaloric (MC) effect of α-MnO2 nanorods is predicted using a phenomenological model. The magnetization vs. temperature simulation...     

Stress Analysis and Fatigue Life Assessment of a Piston in an Upgraded Engine

Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention - Need for exploiting a higher performance out of an already designed engine due to the high costs of redesign and manufacturing new engines, makes the...     

Bio-Cyber Interface Parameter Estimation with Neural Network for the Internet of Bio-Nano Things

Wireless Personal Communications - Recently, there is growing interest in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) based on biological communication with the advent of communication engineering and...     

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.