MODELING THE BODY TEMPERATURE OF HEAT STRESSED HOLSTEIN LYING COWS UNDER TWO DIFFERENT COOLING PROCESSES

Heat stressed cows produce less milk. Thus, a major challenge during hot summer months is to keep the dairy barn at a comfortable temperature. Use of fans is an economical solution but the combination of both spray and fans appears to be an even more effective way to cool cows and improve the milk production than using fans alone. The goal of this study is to recommend an appropriate method for comparing the dynamics of the cooling processes. The first step is to develop a nonlinear model to characterize the thermoregulatory responses of heat stressed dairy cows when they are lying down. The next step is to evaluate methods of comparing treatment effects such as mixed model analysis of the parameter estimates, nonlinear fixed effects analysis, and nonlinear mixed effects analysis. The final step is to illustrate the recommended analysis

Growth and Histological Effects to Protothaca staminea (Littleneck Clam) of Long-Term Exposure to Chlorinated Sea Water

There has been considerable concern about the potential for long-term effects to marine organisms from chlorinated sea water. As part of a larger study to investigate the effects of materials resulting from seawater chlorination on marine organisms, groups of littleneck clams, Protothaca staminea, were exposed to sea water that had been chlorinated. Two experiments were conducted. In one test, groups of littleneck clams were exposed to dilutions of chlorinated sea water that had average chlorine produced oxidant (CPO) concentrations of 16 {micro}g/l or less. In the second test, groups of clams were exposed to chlorinated seawater-unchlorinated seawater mixtures that had target CPO concentrations of 0, 6, 12, 25, 50 and 100 {micro}g/l. In the first experiment, length measurements were made on all clams at approximately one-month intervals for three months. In the second test, length, weight, depth, width and edge etching were used to measure growth, and subsamples were harvested and measured at one-month intervals. In addition, clams were preserved for histological examination. The clams in the first experiment all had negative growth. In the second test, growth was inhibited under all conditions through the first four months of exposure. During the last four months, there was positive signs of growth at the 0, 6 and 12 {micro}g/l CPO test conditions. Histological examination indicates that P. staminea does not adapt well to being held in aquaria. Most clams, tram all test and control conditions, showed evidence of necrosis at one month. This condition seemed to improve with longer exposure at lower CPO concentrations but persisted at CPO concentrations of 25 {micro}g/l and higher. Other histological effects were apparent at the higher exposure concentrations as the length of exposure increased

NONLINEAR MIXED MODELS TO EVALUATE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS, HAIR COAT, AND ANCHOR LENGTH ON BODY TEMPERATURE DURING AFTERNOON MILKING OF HOLSTEIN COWS IN HAWAII

A hot thermal environment is one factor that causes loss of activity, productivity and even death in cows. One reason may be the effect of hair coat (black or white) on body temperature during different activities and environment conditions. In this study, we attempt to characterize the relationship between body temperature over time using activity, physiological and environmental effects with a nonlinear regression model. The fixed and mixed versions of models are examined. We also examine the effect of the measuring device, anchor length (long or short). Environmental effects, such as, air temperature, thermal heat index (THI), relative humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed, For PM Milking activity, differences in hair coat and anchor length tested as treatment effects. We present a detailed approach focusing on the rate of change in animal body temperature using the nonlinear regression model and investigate how the dynamics between the random-effects changes

USING FUNCTIONAL DATA ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE EFFECT OF SHADE ON BODY TEMPERATURE OF FEEDLOT HEIFERS DURING ENVIRONMENTAL HEAT STRESS

Heat stress can be a serious problem for cattle. Body temperature (Tb) is a good measure of an animal’s thermo-regulatory response to an environmental thermal challenge. Previous studies found that Tb increases in response to increasing ambient temperature in a controlled chamber. However, when animals are in an uncontrolled environment, Tb is subject to many uncontrolled environmental factors, such as sunshade, wind, and humidity, that increase variation in the data. Hence, functional data analysis (FDA) was applied to analyze the data with uncontrolled environmental factors as curves in the whole series of days in this study. Breed (Angus, MARCIII, MARC-I, Charolais) and availability of shade (access versus no access to sunshade) were included as treatment factors in the statistical model. This study illustrates the potential of FDA to retain all information in the curves. The specific objectives are to use FDA to smooth Tb with large noise, to detect treatment effects on Tb, and to assess the interactions between breed and availability of shade with functional regression coefficients. The results show that FDA can be used to detect significant treatment interactions that may otherwise remain undetected using regular linear or nonlinear models. Significant interactions were found, indicating that access to sun-shade influences the way animals respond to a thermal challenge. Overall, it was found that breeds of cattle with dark-hides were more affected by temperature changes and peak temperatures than breeds of cattle with light-hides. Angus cattle (black) had the highest body temperatures in both shade and no shade areas, while Charolais (white) had the lowest body temperatures in the no shade area. However, MARC III (dark red) experienced the largest temperature differential between shade and no shade. Therefore, breed and availability of shade interactions are important considerations when making predictions to aid in management decisions involving feedlot cattle

A facility for high resolution spectroscopy: Laboratory and ground based observations in support of upper atmospheric research

This research task consists of operating a facility for making spectroscopic observations in support of upper atmospheric research. The facility responds to the needs and interests of the visiting investigators. Therefore, the research objectives are not predetermined except in broad outline. The emphasis is on studies that take advantage of the particular strengths of the Fourier Transform Spectrometer on Kitt Peak: high spectral resolution combined with wide spectral range and low noise

USING TIME SERIES TO STUDY DYNAMICS OF SWEAT RATES OF HOLSTEIN COWS EXPOSED TO INITIAL AND PROLONGED SOLAR HEAT STRESS

Sweating is a very important way for cows to cope with heat stress. We are interested in the ability of Holstein cows to sustain high sweat or evaporation rates when exposed to solar radiation. There were two solar heat stress treatments: onset and prolonged. The onset data provided an opportunity to examine the impact of sudden exposure to a solar thermal load. The prolonged data allowed us to examine the impact of exposure to solar heat stress for an expended period (5 hr). Two questions of interest were: Do cows sweat at a constant or cyclic rate? Is there a difference in the dynamics of the two treatments: onset and prolonged solar heat stress? The data were examined for stationarity. In the time domain, we fit ARIMA models and estimated the parameters. In the frequency domain, we used nonparametric spectral estimation to identify cyclic patterns in the sweat rates. The usefulness of each technique for analyzing the dynamics of sweat rates is discussed

Progression of renal cell carcinoma is inhibited by genistein and radiation in an orthotopic model

BACKGROUND: We have previously reported the potentiation of radiotherapy by the soy isoflavone genistein for prostate cancer using prostate tumor cells in vitro and orthotopic prostate tumor models in vivo. However, when genistein was used as single therapy in animal models, it promoted metastasis to regional para-aortic lymph nodes. To clarify whether these intriguing adverse effects of genistein are intrinsic to the orthotopic prostate tumor model, or these results could also be recapitulated in another model, we used the orthotopic metastatic KCI-18 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) model established in our laboratory. METHODS: The KCI-18 RCC cell line was generated from a patient with papillary renal cell carcinoma. Following orthotopic renal implantation of KCI-18 RCC cells and serial in vivo kidney passages in nude mice, we have established a reliable and predictable metastatic RCC tumor model. Mice bearing established kidney tumors were treated with genistein combined with kidney tumor irradiation. The effect of the therapy was assessed on the primary tumor and metastases to various organs. RESULTS: In this experimental model, the karyotype and histological characteristics of the human primary tumor are preserved. Tumor cells metastasize from the primary renal tumor to the lungs, liver and mesentery mimicking the progression of RCC in humans. Treatment of established kidney tumors with genistein demonstrated a tendency to stimulate the growth of the primary kidney tumor and increase the incidence of metastasis to the mesentery lining the bowel. In contrast, when given in conjunction with kidney tumor irradiation, genistein significantly inhibited the growth and progression of established kidney tumors. These findings confirm the potentiation of radiotherapy by genistein in the orthotopic RCC model as previously shown in orthotopic models of prostate cancer. CONCLUSION: Our studies in both RCC and prostate tumor models demonstrate that the combination of genistein with primary tumor irradiation is a more effective and safer therapeutic approach as the tumor growth and progression are inhibited both in the primary and metastatic sites

A COMPARISON OF ANALYTIC AND BAYESIAN APPROACHES FOR CHARACTERIZING THERMAL HYSTERESIS IN CATTLE USING ALGEBRAIC AND GEOMETRIC DISTANCES

A high ambient temperature poses a serious threat to cattle. Above a certain threshold, an animal’s body temperature (Tb) appears to be driven by the hot cyclic air temperature (Ta) and hysteresis occurs. Elliptical hysteresis describes the output of a process in response to a simple harmonic input, and the trajectory forms a closed loop. The hysteresis loop shows a rotated elliptical pattern which depends on the lag between Tb and Ta. The objectives of this study are 1) to characterize hysteresis using bootstrapped ellipse specific nonlinear least squares 2) to reformulate models using the Bayesian method, and 3) to assess the contribution of the Bayesian approach by comparing the risks using two metrics: algebraic and geometric. Comparisons and illustrations are made using simulations over three levels of signal strength. For each method; bootstrap and Bayes, both algebraic and geometric distances are compared based on the root mean square distance (RMSE) from fitting the hysteresis loop. Data from a heat stressed steer in a field experiment was analyzed to illustrate and compare the results from each method

Gamow-Teller strength distributions for nuclei in pre-supernova stellar cores

Electron-capture and $\beta$-decay of nuclei in the core of massive stars play an important role in the stages leading to a type II supernova explosion. Nuclei in the f-p shell are particularly important for these reactions in the post Silicon-burning stage of a presupernova star. In this paper, we characterise the energy distribution of the Gamow-Teller Giant Resonance (GTGR) for mid-fp-shell nuclei in terms of a few shape parameters, using data obtained from high energy, forward scattering (p,n) and (n,p) reactions. The energy of the GTGR centroid $E_{GT}$ is further generalised as function of nuclear properties like mass number, isospin and other shell model properties of the nucleus. Since a large fraction of the GT strength lies in the GTGR region, and the GTGR is accessible for weak transitions taking place at energies relevant to the cores of presupernova and collapsing stars, our results are relevant to the study of important $e^-$-capture and $\beta$-decay rates of arbitrary, neutron-rich, f-p shell nuclei in stellar cores. Using the observed GTGR and Isobaric Analog States (IAS) energy systematics we compare the coupling coefficients in the Bohr-Mottelson two particle interaction Hamiltonian for different regions of the Isotope Table.Comment: Revtex, 28 pages +7 figures (PostScript Figures, uuencoded, filename: Sutfigs.uu). If you have difficulty printing the figures, please contact [email protected]. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C, Nov 01, 199