Using Carcass EPDs to Produce for Target Windows

The beef cattle industry is moving in the direction of a value-based marketing system. Within such a system, carcasses will be individually in value based on the amount of waste fat, salable lean meat, and quality attributes such as marbling and tenderness. The beef cattle industry has come to rely on growth and maternal EPDs as valuable tools in bull selection. In the future, more emphasis will be placed on using only bulls that will get a producer’s calves into target carcass windows. An understanding of how to apply EPDs beyond just predicting sire differences and into predicting target windows of acceptability will become important. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which carcass expected progeny differences (EPD) can be used to predict progeny phenotype

Critical State in Thin Anisotropic Superconductors of Arbitrary Shape

A thin flat superconductor of arbitrary shape and with arbitrary in-plane and out-of-plane anisotropy of flux-line pinning is considered, in an external magnetic field normal to its plane. It is shown that the general three-dimensional critical state problem for this superconductor reduces to the two-dimensional problem of an infinitely thin sample of the same shape but with a modified induction dependence of the critical sheet current. The methods of solving the latter problem are well known. This finding thus enables one to study the critical states in realistic samples of high-Tc superconductors with various types of anisotropic flux-line pinning. As examples, we investigate the critical states of long strips and rectangular platelets of high-Tc superconductors with pinning either by the ab-planes or by extended defects aligned with the c-axis.Comment: 13 pages including 13 figure files in the tex

Analytic Solution for the Critical State in Superconducting Elliptic Films

A thin superconductor platelet with elliptic shape in a perpendicular magnetic field is considered. Using a method originally applied to circular disks, we obtain an approximate analytic solution for the two-dimensional critical state of this ellipse. In the limits of the circular disk and the long strip this solution is exact, i.e. the current density is constant in the region penetrated by flux. For ellipses with arbitrary axis ratio the obtained current density is constant to typically 0.001, and the magnetic moment deviates by less than 0.001 from the exact value. This analytic solution is thus very accurate. In increasing applied magnetic field, the penetrating flux fronts are approximately concentric ellipses whose axis ratio b/a < 1 decreases and shrinks to zero when the flux front reaches the center, the long axis staying finite in the fully penetrated state. Analytic expressions for these axes, the sheet current, the magnetic moment, and the perpendicular magnetic field are presented and discussed. This solution applies also to superconductors with anisotropic critical current if the anisotropy has a particular, rather realistic form.Comment: Revtex file and 13 postscript figures, gives 10 pages of text with figures built i

Smooth muscle tumor arising de novo in a liver allograft: A case report

A case of a primary smooth muscle tumor arising in a liver allograft is presented. This complication has not been previously reported in the literature. The tumor was diagnosed while still asymptomatic, and the patient, a young child, has done well following a left lateral segmentectomy

Adjustment Factors for Ultrasound Measures in Yearling Angus Bulls and Developing Heifers

Ultrasound measures for 12-13th rib fat thickness, rump fat thickness, ribeye area and % intramuscular fat have been collected on more than 27,000 yearling Angus bulls and more than 7,000 developing heifers as part of a two-year research program with the American Angus Association. The effects of the age of the cow producing the calf and the age of the calf at scanning time are significant and must be accounted for through adjustments to the actual ultrasound measures before breeders can use the information to compare animals within contemporary groups

Relationship Between Chemical Percentage Intramuscular Fat and USDA Marbling Score

This paper presents the relationships found and developed into a set of regression formulas for marbling score (MS) and actual percentage intramuscular fat (PIMF) using data from realtime ultrasound (RTU) certification programs. MS was determined to the nearest 10th of a marbling degree by a USDA grader—that is, sm10, sm20, etc. The same USDA grader was used each year. Percentage intramuscular fat was determined by removing a 1/4 in. facing from the 12th rib. This facing was returned to the Iowa State University Meat Laboratory, trimmed so that the sample contained only the longissimus dorsi muscle, freeze-ground, and sub-sampled. Product moment correlations between PIMF and MS were .95, .82, and .89 for 1996, 1997 and combined years, respectively. The results shown in this paper are not characteristic of what is generally observed in the industry. However, it shows that there can be a high correlation between the subjective grading of marbling as compared to actual chemical fat in the longissimus dorsi muscle. The USDA grader that graded these cattle knew he was being compared to an instrument grading system. How much fairer might the current grading system be if this technology were to be embraced and implemented by the beef packing industry

Ultrasound Prediction Model for % Intramuscular Fat in Beef Cattle

Real-time ultrasound technology offers producers an opportunity to measure compositional traits in beef cattle. A recent research project focused on the development of a prediction model for the Classic Scanner 200. The accuracy of this model has been previously reported and can be found in the Journal of Animal Science 2000, Volume 78, pages 11-18

Real-time Ultrasound Trait Age Adjustment Factors for Replacement Angus Heifers

Real-time ultrasound (RTU) images from replacement Angus heifers were analyzed to determine adjustment factors and genetic parameter estimates. The traits analyzed included ribeye area, 12-13th rib fat thickness, rump fat thickness, and % intramuscular fat. Adjustments were calculated for heifers averaging 805 lbs at time of scanning. The adjustments include age adjustment and weight per day of age adjustment factors

Carcass EPDs for Yearling Angus Bulls Using Real-time Ultrasound Measures

Real-time ultrasound (RTU) images from yearling Angus bulls were analyzed to determine adjustment factors and genetic parameter estimates. The traits analyzed included ribeye area, 12-13th rib fat thickness, rump fat thickness, and % intramuscular fat. The heritability estimates are higher than those calculated from the American Angus Association’s carcass database. Expected progeny differences (EPD) for these traits were computed for the sires that produced the yearling bulls. The rank correlations for sires with both carcass EPD and RTU EPD from this study were developed. As accuracy for RTU EPD increases, the rank correlation with carcass EPD increases positively