evaluation of a system for monitoring rumination in heifers and calves

The Hi-Tag electronic rumination-monitoring system (SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel), based on capturing audio recordings, provides a reasonable measure of rumination time in dairy cows, but has not been validated for milk- fed or weaned heifers. The objective of this study was to validate the Hi-Tag rumination-monitoring system in heifers and calves and to assess whether suckling from a teat interfered with recording from this system. Assessments of 2 independent observers were highly correlated (r=0.99, n=20), indicating that direct visual observations provide a useful standard. Measures from the Hi-Tag system were validated by comparing values with those from a single human observer, using observations from three 2-h intervals from 35 Holstein calves and heifers aged 4, 6, and 9 wk and 3, 6, and 9 mo, respectively. In 9 -mo-old heifers, rumination times obtained from the electronic system were highly correlated with visual observations (r=0.88, R2=0.77, n=15), and the mean difference was minor (-4±8 min/2-h interval). The accuracy of data from the automated system decreased when used on heifers less than 9 mo old. Suckling did not interfere with the electronic system (r=-0.1, n=18). These results indicate that the Hi-Tag system is an accurate tool for monitoring rumination behavior in Holstein Friesian heifers from the age of 9 mo

Thin film contamination effects on laser-induced damage of fused silica surfaces at 355 nm

Fused silica windows were artificially contaminated to estimate the resistance of target chamber debris shields against laser damage during NIF operation. Uniform contamination thin films (1 to 5 nm thick) were prepared by sputtering various materials (Au, Al, Cu, and B4C). The loss of transmission of the samples was first measured. They were then tested at 355 nm in air with an 8-ns Nd:YAG laser. The damage morphologies were characterized by Nomarski optical microscopy and SEM. Both theory and experiments showed that metal contamination for films as thin as 1 nm leads to a substantial loss of transmission. The laser damage resistance dropped very uniformly across the entire surface (e.g. 6 J/cm2 for 5 nm of Cu). The damage morphology characterization showed that contrary to clean silica, metal coated samples did not produce pits on the surface. B4C coated silica, on the other hand, led to a higher density of such damage pits. A model for light absorption in the thin film was coupled with a simple heat deposition and diffusion model to perform preliminary theoretical estimates of damage thresholds. The estimates of the loss due to light absorption and reflection pointed out significant .differences between metals (e.g. Al and Au). The damage threshold predictions were in qualitative agreement with experimental measurements

The effect of conspecific removal on behavioral and physiological responses of dairy cattle

Adverse social and welfare implications of mixing dairy cows or separating calves from their mothers have been documented previously. Here we investigated the behavioral and physiological responses of individuals remaining after conspecifics were removed. We conducted a series of 4 experiments incorporating a range of types of different dairy cattle groupings [experiment 1 (E1), 126 outdoor lactating dairy cows; experiment 2 (E2), 120 housed lactating dairy cows; experiment 3 (E3), 18 housed dairy calves; and experiment 4 (E4), 22 housed dairy bulls] from which a subset of individuals were permanently removed (E1, n = 7; E2, n = 5; E3, n = 9; E4, n = 18). Associations between individuals were established using near-neighbor scores (based upon identities and distances between animals recorded before removal) in E1, E2, and E3. Behavioral recordings were taken for 3 to 5 d, before and after removal on a sample of cattle in all 4 experiments (E1, n = 20; E2, n = 20; E3, n = 9; E4, n = 4). In 2 experiments with relatively large groups of dairy cows, E1 and E2, the responses of cows that did and did not associate with the removed cows were compared. An increase in time that both nonassociates and associates spent eating was observed after conspecific removal in E1. In E2, this increase was restricted to cows that had not associated with the removed cows. A reduction in ruminating in remaining cattle was observed in E3 and eating in E4. Immunoglobulin A concentrations increased after separation in both E3 and E4 cattle, but did not differ significantly between associates and nonassociates in E2. Blood and milk cortisol concentrations were not affected by conspecific removal. These findings suggest that some animals had affected feeding behavior and IgA concentrations after removal of conspecifics

Understanding the whole city as landscape. A multivariate approach to urban landscape morphology

Abstract The European Landscape Convention implies a requirement for signatory states to identify their urban landscapes which goes beyond the traditional focus on individual parks and green spaces and the links between them. Landscape ecological approaches can provide a useful model for identifying urban landscape types across a whole territory, but the variables relevant for urban landscapes are very different to those usually addressing rural areas. This paper presents an approach for classifying the urban landscape of Vienna that was developed in a research project funded by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology: 'Urban Fabric and Microclimate Response' . Nine landscape types and a number of sub-types were defined, using a multivariate statistical approach which takes into account both morphological and urban climate related variables. Although the variables were selected to objectively reflect the factors that could best represent the urban climatic characteristics of the urban landscape, the results also provided a widely plausible representation of the structure of the city's landscapes. Selected examples of the landscape types that were defined in this way were used both to simulate current microclimatic conditions and also to model the effects of possible climatic amelioration measures. Finally the paper looks forward to developing a more general-purpose urban landscape typology that allows investigating a much broader complex of urban landscape functions