Operational efficiency of incorporating a novel robotic rotary into a pasture-based dairy farming system

The thesis presents an original investigation into the feasibility and operational efficiency of a novel prototype robotic rotary (RR) incorporated into a low-input, pasture-based Australian dairy farming system. A world’s first high throughput automatic milking system was installed, co-developed and tested at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute site (Camden, NSW, Australia). Being the first farm internationally to tackle voluntary distributed cow traffic (cf. batch milking) the challenges and learnings were specific to the system utilisation and the stage of technological development of the Camden installation. The thesis focuses on the challenges associated with application of the technology, of which learnings will have an immense level of importance for the first commercial installations on farm and further development of the system. These challenges were; (1) investigating a coping mechanism (with and without extra feed) to ensure and maintain high quality milk collection and storage for periods of underutilisation of the systems’ capacity (with voluntary cow traffic) in the absence of an automatic plant cleaning function, (2) understanding the impact of premilking teat preparation on the incidence of unsuccessful milkings, to ensure that farmers make an informed decision prior to commencement of the RR (as purchase of the teat preparation module will be optional), and (3) potential implications of management strategies for incompletely milked cows on dairy layouts. During periods of underutilisation the operator can deactivate a proportion of bails to better match the demand and availability of milk harvesting bails. Thus, investigations were conducted to understand the impact of bail activation sequence, availability of feed and cow queue size on voluntary cow traffic and robotic throughput efficiency. It was found that overall the availability of a feed reward as cows entered the RR had a larger effect on cow traffic than bail activation sequence, although the number of cows present (voluntarily) at the yard also played a role. Furthermore, having a greater number of consecutive bails activated resulted in more robot operations being conducted simultaneously resulting in an increased harvesting efficiency. Premilking teat preparation is also known to impact on milk harvesting efficiency, and as this component of the technology will be optional an investigation was conducted to assess the effects of not using a premilking teat preparation device on attachment accuracy and milk removal characteristics. The teat cup attachment was more successful and faster when cows were subjected to the teat cleaning treatment. Cows milked after being exposed to teat cleaning treatment, with a short milking interval (< 8 h), had a higher peak milk flow, however no difference was observed in the average milk flow rate of individual cows. Whilst there was an impact on attachment success by the use of the premilking treatment, the overall level of success was still lower than desirable. With this in mind a study of different management practices of incompletely milked cows was conducted. The system showed no difference in attachment success between milking incomplete cows after a one- or three-hour interval. This suggested that there is a level of flexibility available in designing the dairy layout and that no significant advantage or disadvantage (with regard to subsequent success level) exists in drafting incomplete cows directly back to the pre-milking yard compared to offering them an opportunity to spend time on a feedpad prior to the second attempt. The results presented in this thesis will be invaluable in furthering industry understanding of management practices with the new milk harvesting technology, the RR. The contribution of these scientific investigations will be extremely important to the success of the development of the system, which is progressing closer to commercialisation

Legal regulation of lease of apartments and the business premises

V této diplomové práci se zabývám aktuální právní úpravou nájmu bytů a prostor sloužících podnikání po rekodifikaci soukromého práva. Diplomovou práci jsem rozdělila do čtyř kapitol, ve kterých se snažím poskytnout komplexní pohled na danou tématiku. Poukazuji zde na podstatné změny, ke kterým v souvislosti s rekodifikaci v nájemních vztazích došlo a zároveň porovnávám s předchozí právní úpravou, zákonem č. 40/1964 Sb., občanským zákoníkem, ve znění pozdějších předpisů a hodnotím jaký to má celkový dopad na práva a povinnosti smluvních stran. V nové právní úpravě věnoval zákonodárce poměrně značnou pozornost úpravě nájmu bytu, a obzvlášť pak nájmu prostoru sloužícího k podnikání. Podstatným rozdílem mezi nájmem bytu a nájmem prostoru sloužícího k podnikání je především v účelu nájmu. Účelem nájmu bytu je zejména zajištění bytových potřeb nájemce a případně členů jeho domácnosti, zatímco účelem nájmu prostoru sloužícího k podnikání je uspokojování podnikatelských potřeb a potřeb jiných osob, které si tyto prostory pronajímají. V případě, že účelem nájmu nemovitosti není bydlení, popř. je nájemcem právnická osoba, pak se použije obecné ustanovení o nájmu (tj. ust. § 2201 a násl. občanského zákoníku). Přijetí nového občanského zákoníku považuji za přínosné zejména kvůli celistvosti právní úpravy nájmu...This diploma thesis deals with a legal regulation of lease of apartments and the business premises after the recodification of private law. I have divided the thesis into four chapters in which I try to provide a comprehensive view on the legal legislation. I refer to fundamental changes that were connected with the recodification of lease relationship and I also compare this with the previous legal regulation, an Act of 26 February 1964 the Civil Code, and it's subsequent amendments. In this part I also evaluete it's impact on rights and obligations of contractual parties. In the new legislation the legislator paid attention to the legal framework of the lease of an apartment, especially to the lease on business premises. The most significant difference between the lease of an apartment and the lease on business premises is in it's purpose. The purpose of a lease of apartment is, particulary, to ensure housing for a lessee and his household member, however the purpose of a lease on business premises is to satisfy business aims and aims of other persons who are lessee of these premises. In the case that the main purpose of the lease is not housing or the lessee is a legal entity then we have to use general provisions about the lease (e.g. Article 2201 and follows of the Civil Code). I consider the...Department of Civil LawKatedra občanského právaFaculty of LawPrávnická fakult

Portuguese Identity and Azorianity in João de Melo's oeuvre

Diplomová práce se zabývá studiem nosných rysů v díle Joãa de Mela, zejména tragickým pocitem života, odvěkým časoprostorem, ontologickými metamorfózami zvířat a lidí, útěky, specifickou religiozitou, izolací a imaginací, sdílenou marginalizací a jazykovou vzdáleností. Následně jsou tyto rysy klasifikovány z hlediska jejich azořanství, které je nahlídnuto také z hlediska portugalské identity a ve vztahu centra a periferie.The diploma thesis examines the oeuvre of João de Melo in view of the fundamental topics of his poetics, namely the tragic sense of life, ancient space-time, ontological metamorphosis of humans and animals, escapes, peculiar religiosity, isolation and imagination, shared marginalization and language distance. The Azoriatity is estimated on the basis of the chosen topics and on comparison with Portuguese identity, and the correlation between center and peripheral areas is analyzed. Abstrakt Diplomová práce se zabývá studiem nosných rysů v díle Joãa de Mela, zejména tragickým pocitem života, odvěkým časoprostorem, ontologickými metamorfózami zvířat a lidí, útěky, specifickou religiozitou, izolací a imaginací, sdílenou marginalizací a jazykovou vzdáleností. Následně jsou tyto rysy klasifikovány z hlediska jejich azořanství, které je nahlídnuto také z hlediska portugalské identity a ve vztahu centra a periferie. Klíčová slova: azořanství, identita, ostrov, moře, sopka, emigrace, koloniální válkaInstitute of Romance StudiesÚstav románských studiíFilozofická fakultaFaculty of Art

Attachment accuracy of a novel prototype robotic rotary and investigation of two management strategies for incomplete milked quarters

Throughout 2009 and 2010, FutureDairy (Camden, NSW, Australia) was involved in testing a novel prototype robotic rotary (RR). The commercial version RR is expected to be capable of carrying out 90 milkings per hour. To achieve the high throughput the rotary rotates the cow to the cup attachment robot and then around the platform in a stop–start fashion. The robot does not remain with the cow during the entire milking process. When not all teat cups are attached during a milking session there is an opportunity for cows to be sent back to the waiting yard for a second milking attempt. The study presented here was designed to test whether or not the extension of the interval to a second milking attempt improved milking success of incompletely milked cows. It was expected that with an increased milking interval between the two subsequent milkings the changes to the udder conformation could positively affect the attachment success at the second attempt. The 1 h milking interval treatment (1 h) simulated cows being drafted directly back to the pre-milking waiting yard, whilst the 3 h milking interval treatment (3 h) was designed to simulate cows being drafted back after accessing post-milking supplementary feed on a feedpad. The results presented in this manuscript showed no significant difference between the frequencies of successful attachment in the second attempt between the 1 h and 3 h treatments indicating that a reasonable level of flexibility exists with management of incompletely milked cows and dairy layout designs. Milk production level affected the probability of success at second attempt, which was about 7.5 times higher in cows with an average milk production level greater than 19.3 kg than those with less than 10.8 kg. When looking at the total proportion of cows successfully milked after two attempts, it was found that successful milking was more likely in multiparous cows compared to primiparous cows. Highlights • We studied management options for incompletely milked cows on a robotic rotary. • Firstly cows returned to waiting yard with approx. 1 h interval between attempts. • Secondly cows returned to waiting yard via feed pad – approx. 3 h between attempts. • No difference found between 1 and 3 h intervals on attachment success. • Level of flexibility exists with management of incompletely milked cows. Keywords: Success-rate; Pasture based; Automatic milking system; Robotic rotary; DairyDairy Australia, DeLaval, Department of Primary Industries NSW and The University of Sydney

Biological therapies in the systemic management of psoriasis: International Consensus Conference

Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated disorder that usually requires long-term treatment for control. Approximately 25% of patients have moderate to severe disease and require phototherapy, systemic therapy or both. Despite the availability of numerous therapeutic options, the long-term management of psoriasis can be complicated by treatment-related limitations. With advances in molecular research and technology, several biological therapies are in various stages of development and approval for psoriasis. Biological therapies are designed to modulate key steps in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Collectively, biologicals have been evaluated in thousands of patients with psoriasis and have demonstrated significant benefit with favourable safety and tolerability profiles. The limitations of current psoriasis therapies, the value of biological therapies for psoriasis, and guidance regarding the incorporation of biological therapies into clinical practice are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72815/1/j.1365-2133.2004.06070.x.pd

German evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of Psoriasis vulgaris (short version)

Psoriasis vulgaris is a common and chronic inflammatory skin disease which has the potential to significantly reduce the quality of life in severely affected patients. The incidence of psoriasis in Western industrialized countries ranges from 1.5 to 2%. Despite the large variety of treatment options available, patient surveys have revealed insufficient satisfaction with the efficacy of available treatments and a high rate of medication non-compliance. To optimize the treatment of psoriasis in Germany, the Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft and the Berufsverband Deutscher Dermatologen (BVDD) have initiated a project to develop evidence-based guidelines for the management of psoriasis. The guidelines focus on induction therapy in cases of mild, moderate, and severe plaque-type psoriasis in adults. The short version of the guidelines reported here consist of a series of therapeutic recommendations that are based on a systematic literature search and subsequent discussion with experts in the field; they have been approved by a team of dermatology experts. In addition to the therapeutic recommendations provided in this short version, the full version of the guidelines includes information on contraindications, adverse events, drug interactions, practicality, and costs as well as detailed information on how best to apply the treatments described (for full version, please see Nast et al., JDDG, Suppl 2:S1–S126, 2006; or http://www.psoriasis-leitlinie.de)