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Effect of pre-partum habituation to milking routine on behaviour and lactation performance of buffalo heifers
No full textThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect pre-partum habituation in the milkingparlour on behaviour and lactation performance of buffalo heifers. Sixteen buffalo heifersin late gestation were used for this study. The animals, with an age ranging from 30 to44 months at the start of the study, were equally allocated into two treatments and bal-anced for estimated calving date. Eight animals received pre-partum habituation for 10 daysbefore the estimated calving date (group H), while the eight others received no treatmentand served as the control (group C). During the pre-partum habituation sessions, group Hanimals were moved to the milking parlour and left for 10 min in the milking stall onceeach day, where the udder was thoroughly washed with warm water, wiped with a dis-posable towel and massaged. The behaviours, registered from entrance into the milkingstall to exit, were step and kick. After calving milk flow profiles, milk yield and milk qual-ity variables were determined along with behavioural recordings. The H animals duringthe habituation procedure showed a reduction in the number of steps (P < 0.001) and kicks(P < 0.01). After calving the H animals performed fewer steps than the control animals at 0(P < 0.001), 3 (P < 0.01), 6 (P < 0.01), 13 (P < 0.01) and 20 (P < 0.01) days after calving. Animalsfrom group H also performed fewer kicks than control animals at 0 (P < 0.001), 3 (P < 0.01),6 (P < 0.01) and 13 (P < 0.01) days after calving. In the C group a reduction in the numberof steps (P < 0.001) and kicks (P < 0.001) was observed as lactation proceeded, whereas forgroup H only a tendency for a reduction over lactation was detected. Pre-partum habitu-ation did not significantly affect milk quality or milk flow variables. Milk yield in the first3 min of milking (P < 0.001), and average milk flow (P < 0.001), increased throughout theexperimental period, whereas the duration of the pre-milking phase decreased as lactationproceeded (P < 0.001). This study shows that buffalo heifers exposed to a pre-partum habit-uation programme performed fewer steps and kicks than control animals during milking.Therefore, it is concluded that using this treatment can reduce the level of restlessness inbuffalo heifers during milking
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Milking behaviour of buffalo cows: entrance order and side preference in the milking parlour
No full textOn two farms, three milking groups of buffalo cows were used to assess the consistency of entrance
order and the preference for one side of the milking parlour. On Farm 1 (F1) all animals were
primiparous (n=57). On Farm 2, three primiparous, 16 secondiparous and 36 multiparous cows
(range 1–8) constituted group F2G1; whereas group F2G2 had 12 primiparous, 10 secondiparous and
14 multiparous cows (range 1–10). Animals were milked in auto-tandem milking parlours (2×5 and
2×6 for Farms 1 and 2, respectively). For each cow, entrance order into milking parlour, side where
she was milked, milk yield, time and duration of milking were recorded. These data were derived from
the computerised identification of cows. The sequence in which the cows entered themilking parlour
ranged from 1 to 57 for group F1, from 1 to 55 for group F2G1 and from 1 to 36 for group F2G2. The
analysis of data was conducted on 130, 120 and 92 consecutive milkings for groups F1, F2G1 and
F2G2, respectively. Kendall’s coefficients of concordance showed a strong constancy of the entrance
order into milking parlour for groups F1 (W=0•658; χ2=4792•81; P<0•001), F2G1 (W=0•779;
χ2=5046•81; P<0•001) and F2G2 (W=0•624; χ2=2030•48; P<0•001). Spearman rank correlation
coefficients indicated that the more productive cows in groups F1 and F2G1 tended to enter the
milking parlour first (rs=_0•221 and rs=_0•215; P<0•10; respectively). In group F2G1, a negative
correlation was found between duration of milking and order of entry in the milking parlour (rs=
_0•265; P<0•05). Animals in group F2G2 (rs=0•334; P<0•05) with higher days in milk entered
the milking parlour latterly. In all three groups, 68 cows (45•9%) preferred the right side of the milking
parlour, 73 the left side (49•3%) and the remaining seven (4•8%) showed no preference. Finally,
negative correlations were found between mean entrance order and parity for both groups of Farm 2
(rs=_0•319; P<0•05 and rs=_0•325; P<0•05 for F2G1 and F2G2, respectively). As buffaloes
showed higher entrance order consistency and side preference than other domestic ruminants, it is
concluded that management practices that disturb their choice should be avoided in order to
minimise stress during farming routines
Influences of various factors on cows’ entrance order into the milking parlour
No full textThis study investigates the stability of the milking order of cows entering into the milking parlour of a commercial dairy herd, and changes to this order consequent to a change in health status and a change in the membership of the group of cows being milked. In large herds it is difficult for stockmen to monitor all cows closely. If changes in the milking order are indicative of health or other problems, the monitoring of any changes in the order could alert stockmen to such problems. This could therefore be a tool to add to the parameters collected routinely in precision livestock farming (PLF). The milking process of 692 cows, in seven different feeding groups, over a period of six months, was monitored. The milking order was found to be stable within days, and across days, but was more variable within milking sessions. Cows with mastitis (P < 0.001) entered the parlour later than when they were healthy. Cows with metritis entered into the milking parlour earlier than usually(P < 0.05). When new cows entered a group they fitted into a stable position within the parlour entrance order within two days. There were no effects found of parity, age, days in milk, milk production or milking duration on the milking order. It is concluded that theregular monitoring of milking order, and flagging of changes in this order could be a useful tool in the early identification of the presence of disease in cow
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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