48,544 research outputs found
Selective Breeding in Organic Dairy Production
No full textOrganic dairy farming started to take off in the early 1990s, when the European Union laid down organic standards for animal production. Until now, however, only incidental steps have been taken towards organic breeding and organic farmers mainly use breeding stock from conventional breeding programmes. This thesis focuses on the possibilities for breeding in organic dairy farming.
This thesis starts with describing the basic backgrounds of organic dairy farming and the results of a study that was carried out in 1999-2000 on the vision on cattle breeding. The main conclusions are that breeding in organic dairy farming should be in line with the intensions of organic farming and that farmers need animals that fit to their extensive farming system.
This study is followed by describing the differences and the magnitude of genotype by environment interaction (G x E) between conventional and organic dairy production. There proved to be significant differences in levels of milk production, percentage of protein in the milk, milk cell count and fertility between Holstein heifers on organic or conventional farms. A fairly large impact of G x E was found indicating that organic dairy farmers might have difficulty with selecting the right animals from the conventional supply of breeding bulls. This effect may be caused by the lower uptake of energy by cows in organic agriculture.
After this a study into organic dairy farmers’ breeding aims in relation to their farm management was carried out in 2005. This study shows that, despite differences in farm management, organic farmers had more or less the same breeding aim and many farmers were already experimenting with breeds and crosses in a quest for the most suitable type of cow for their farm. There was, however, no relationship between the farm management system and the breed or cross used, which indicates that although farmers demand suitable animals, they do not know what type of cow this would be.
Based on the results of the different studies, three distinct options are formulated for breeding in organic dairy farming: (1) use of adapted conventional breeding, (2) a separate breeding programme and (3) a breeding system based on natural mating. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the three breeding options are described in relation to naturalness, technical breeding issues, societal concerns and costs and benefits. These illustrate the complexity of the breeding issue in both breeding-technology and social terms. Restricting the use of conventional breeding would effectively mean the rejection of a system with a long and successful history, and throw organic dairy breeding back on its own resources. It is concluded that ‘system innovations’ at multiple levels are needed to create new, sustainable breeding systems, stakeholders must join forces to stimulate the development towards appropriate breeding
Supplementary materials to "Explaining the efficacy of an internet-based behavioral activation intervention for major depression: A mechanistic study of a randomized-controlled trial"
No full textSupplementary materials to: Fu, Z., Burger, H., Arjadi, R., Nauta, M. H., & Bockting, C. L. H. (2021). Explaining the efficacy of an internet-based behavioral activation intervention for major depression: A mechanistic study of a randomized-controlled trial. Clinical Psychology in Europe, 3(3), Article e5467. https://doi.org/10.32872/cpe.5467The Supplementary Material contains detailed results for the mediation examination in simplex models with depression as mediato
Viable service systems and decision making in service management
Get PDFThis paper addresses decision making in the management of complex service systems,
highlighting the contribution of the viable systems approach as an interpretative and
governance methodology based on systems thinking.
In the last few decades, business management has undergone significant changes due to
rapid developments in markets. New competitive strategies and technologies have
stimulated global discussion about business models and tools (Ghoshal, 2005). The role of
relationships has become increasingly relevant in businesses, and researchers as well as
industries are shifting their focus to a service-oriented approach, moving from a paradigm
of product to one of service (IfM-IBM Cambridge SSME Report, 2008)
A 2 h periodic variation in the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1
No full textSpectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1 using the Gran Telescopio Canarias have revealed a ?2 h periodic variability that is present in the three strongest emission lines. We tentatively interpret this variability as due to orbital motion, making it the first indication of the orbital period of Ser X-1. Together with the fact that the emission lines are remarkably narrow, but still resolved, we show that a main-sequence K dwarf together with a canonical 1.4 M? neutron star gives a good description of the system. In this scenario, the most likely place for the emission lines to arise is the accretion disc, instead of a localized region in the binary (such as the irradiated surface or the stream-impact point), and their narrowness is due instead to the low inclination (?10°) of Ser X-1
Mesophilic-hydrothermal-thermophilic (M-H-T) digestion of green corn straw
No full textMesophilic-hydrothermal (80-160 degrees C, 30 min)-thermophilic (M-H-T) digestion and control tests of mesophilic (M), thermophilic (T), hydrothermal-mesophilic (H-M), and mesophilic-thermophilic digestion (M-T) of green corn straw were conducted for a 20-day fermentation period. The results indicate that M-H-T is an efficient method to improve methane production. A maximum methane yield of 371.74 mL/g volatile solid was obtained by the M (3 days)-H (140 degrees C)-T (17 days) process, which was 20.44%, 16.55%, 31.44%, and 14.31% higher than the yields of the M, T, 140-M, and M-T processes. The enhanced methane production was attributed to (1) the improved hemicellulose degradation and lignin disorganization; (2) prevention of the degradation of soluble sugar, easily hydrolyzed hemicellulose and cellulose into furfural and methylfurfural; and (3) lack of formation of Maillard reaction products during initial hydrothermal treatment. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index
Get PDFThe aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear.Cite as:
FARHADI, M., SALEHI, H., EMBI, M. A., FOOLADI, M., FARHADI, H., AGHAEI CHADEGANI, A., & ALE EBRAHIM, N. (2013). Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 57(1), 122-127
Lah–Ribarič type inequalities for (h, g; m)-convex functions
No full textRecently introduced new class of (h, g; m)-convex functions unifies a certain range of convexity, thus allowing the generalizations of know results. In this paper we prove Lah–Ribarič type inequalities for (h, g; m)-convex functions from which we obtain inequalities of Hermite–Hadamard, Fejér, Giaccardi, Popoviciu and Petrović. © 2021, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Royal Academy of Sciences, Madrid
Mrs. H. M. Evers
Get PDFNewspaper Article - 'Mrs. H. M. Evers' - Mrs. Evers hopes she can learn much about the living conditions here and the possibilities for the Dutch settlers.Alberta Women's Institutes; AWI CollectionMRS. H. M. EVERS
I bring out his capital immediately
and until such time as their capital
is released things are quite
difficult. "' There are very few
provinces in Canada that will supply
the Dutch settlers with a loan",
Mr. Jensma stated.
On her arrival here Mrs. Evers
i was astounded at the unusua1.
building of the city and the large
• ields of wheat. " Of course we have
wheat too, but ours is only a small
country so we have to be very
economical and not spend out
land too freely". The buildings are
much taller and narrower, especially
in the cities. Wood is very
expensive so most of the homes are
built of brick and concrete with
corrugated steel and tile roofs.
Give True Picture
In her travels across the country
Mrs. Evers hopes she can lenrn
much about the living conditions
here and the possibilities for the
Dutch settlers so when she re-
| turns to her homeland she will b- i
able to give the women of Holland
all the information possible and
prepare them for their great adventure.
Mrs. Evers and her family reside
on a 150 acre farm in the
northern part of the country. Her
daughter Tjaakje is a teacher in
home economics and her son.
Luken, works on the farm.
Besides serving on the immigration
board she is a member of the
international board of the YWCA;
the international Council of Women:
international corporation of
Dutch Country Wives: the international
organization of the Associated
Country Women of thr
World: and a member of the Women's
Institutes.
She will leave on Tuesday for
Toronto, where she will be met by
Mr. W. Blome. who is with the
Netherlands Immigration Board
in Ottawa.
A doctor declares the British
people are taking 10.000,000 aspirin
tablets a day
Salix diazii M. Idrees & J. M. H. Shaw 1015, nom. nov.
No full textSalix × diazii M. Idrees & J.M.H. Shaw, nom. nov. Replaced name:— Salix × longissima T.E.Díaz & J.Andrés (1987: 132), nom. illeg., non S. longissima P.Wessel (1855: 140). Type:— SPAIN. Léon Province: La Martina, 490 m, 29TPH91, 16 June 1985, T.E. Díaz et al. s.n. (holotype, LEB29538!, isotypes LEB29539!, LEB30605!). Etymology:— The specific epithet honours Prof. Dr. Tomás Emilio Díaz González (University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain), author of the replaced name, for his tremendous contributions to the taxonomy of the genus Salix. Distribution:— Spain, Léon Province (La Martina).Published as part of Idrees, Muhammad & Shaw, Julian M. H., 2022, A new name for extant Salix × longissima T. E. Díaz & J. Andrés (Salicaceae), pp. 213-214 in Phytotaxa 550 (2) on page 213, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.550.2.11, http://zenodo.org/record/664103
Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index
Get PDFThe aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear
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