An evaluation of traits other than production and its association with the survival of dairy cows milked once a day in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of AgriScience at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

New Zealand dairy cows have traditionally been milked twice a day (TAD). However, an increasing number of dairy farms have shifted to once a day (OAD) milking in the last few years for several reasons. A particular emphasis has been placed on the cow’s conformation and its management during the milking routine in OAD dairy farms, as these factors might have altered the culling decisions of herds after shifting from TAD to OAD milking. This thesis evaluates production traits and traits other than production (TOP) in the herd of Massey University Dairy 1 since the start of OAD milking and for three consecutive seasons (2013- 2015), with an assessment of the influence that these traits have on the cow’s survival. Results showed a significant effect of breed, season and lactation on TOP. The scores for most udder traits showed a gradual decrease over lactations. The main reasons for culling were low fertility (37.2%), poor udder conformation (19.9%) and low production (12.8%). Hazard ratios from a Cox proportional hazard model showed that Holstein-Friesian and crossbred cows had a higher likelihood of culling than Jerseys, which also had the highest scores for most udder traits. For some TOP, such as adaptability to milking, rump angle and udder support, higher scores were associated with a lower likelihood of culling. However, intermediate scores were optimum for traits such as body capacity and leg conformation. The results of this thesis are the first to show culling reasons and risk factors for survival in cows recently shifted from TAD to OAD. The analyses of TOP over seasons and over lactations are also unique to this thesis as most studies on this topic only include TOP on first lactation cows. The findings of this thesis indicate that TOP would have a higher priority to make culling decisions in OAD herds during the transition from TAD to OAD milking, compared to TAD herds and also established OAD herds that have used this milking frequency for several seasons. Furthermore, besides body capacity and udder support, traits such as adaptability to milking, rump angle and leg conformation could also potentially be included in a new selection index for OAD dairy cattle

Tourism as a driver of economic development: The Colombian experience

The current paper analyzes the importance and potentials of the tourism sector for economic development. It is divided into four major parts. After a short introduction, section two presents some theoretical insights into the topic of economic development. Commenting on the most relevant components of the catching-up theory by Abramovitz (1986) and the structural change theory by Baumol (1967) and others, it could be realized that growth and the accompanying structural changes in the distribution of employment and GDP have their sources in the sector industry. But at the moment of incorporating the demand side explanation of structural change, the service sectors offer growth potentials as well. Furthermore, the basic characteristics and importance of the tourism sector for economic development and employment are emphasized, examining the so-called 'social capabilities' and the innovation potential within the process of economic growth of any nation. A short survey of literature concerning the contribution of this sector to economic growth makes clear that tourism should be considered not just from the perspective of the benefits, but also from the costs associated with it. Section three provides an analysis of the economic impact of tourism in a developing country, namely Colombia, based on time-series analysis and data gathered supported on the 'Tourism Satellite Account' Methodology. Some relevant indicators produced by the World Economic Forum through its 'Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report', are also evaluated. Finally, some conclusions are drawn with respect to the potentialities, as well as the challenges identified for the Colombian case. --structural change,service sectors,social capabilities,economic development,tourism,Colombia

Scattering in the energy space for Boussinesq equations

In this note we show that all small solutions in the energy space of the generalized 1D Boussinesq equation must decay to zero as time tends to infinity, strongly on slightly proper subsets of the space-time light cone. Our result does not require any assumption on the power of the nonlinearity, working even for the supercritical range of scattering. No parity assumption on the initial data is needed

Research and development of robots cooperation and coordination algorithm for space exploration

Las técnicas y métodos descritos en esta tesis están enfocados en resolver el problema de localización entre robots y del movimiento en una formación predeterminada. Para hacer esto será desarrollado un módulo coordinador y un módulo de seguimiento de objetivos como parte de la TBRA (Test Bench for Robotics and Autonomy) desarrollado previamente por Thales Alenia Space Italia y la Universidad de Genova. Todas las técnicas y métodos van a ser implementados en el lenguaje C++. Los módulos desarrollados serán probados usando los dos robots descritos en la tesis, el TBRA Robotic Platform y el Pioneer 3-AT.The technics and methods developed in this thesis are going to be focused on solving the problems of relative localization amongst robots and their movement maintaining a predetermined formation. To do this, it is going to be developed a coordinator module and a target tracking module, as a part of the TBRA (Test Bench for Robotics and Autonomy) previously developed in Thales Alenia Space Italia and the University of Genoa. All the technics and methods are going to be implemented in C++ language. The developed modules are going to be tested using the two robots described in the thesis, the TBRA Robotic Platform and the Pioneer 3-AT.Ingeniero (a) ElectrónicoPregrad

Foreign direct investment and spillovers : gradualism may be better.

The standard argument says that in the presence of positive spillovers foreign direct investment should be promoted and subsidized. In contrast, this paper claims that the very existence of spillovers may require temporarily restricting FDI. Our argument is based on two features of spillovers: they are limited by the economy's absorptive capacity and they take time to materialize. By letting in capital more gradually, initial investment has the time to create spillovers – and upgrade the economy's absorptive capacity – before further investment occurs. The economy converges to a steady state with a superior technology and a greater capital stock