Exercise of tied dairy cows during the winter

The aim was to investigate whether tied dairy cows have a motivation to move per se when exercised during winter and whether they prefer to be outdoors or indoors when exercising. In the first experiment tied dairy cows were observed when exercised outdoors every day, twice a week or once a week. In the second experiment the preference of tied dairy cows for being indoors or outdoors during exercise was tested in two types of preference tests. Cows exercised at longer intervals walked and trotted more than did cows exercised at shorter intervals. The cows that were exercised once and twice a week explored the environment more during exercise than did cows that were exercised every day. The increase in movement with duration of confinement indicates that the cows’ motivation to move built up with time. An alternative explanation is that the walking and trotting was a response to the novelty of the exercise area. However, we did not observe a build-up of explorative behaviour with time. The cows did not show a preference for exercise either indoors or outdoors. Preference for being outdoors or indoors may therefore be independent of the motivation for movement. In future studies this preference may be assessed in a situation where the motivation for movement is controlled. In conclusion, tied dairy cows increased the amount of movement with increased length of indoor confinement. Also, the amount of explorative behaviour was greater for cows exercised less frequently than for cows exercised every day. Finally, tied dairy cows did not show a preference for indoor or outdoor exercise

Genetic variance and covariance components for across population evaluation of Brown Swiss cattle

Dairy cattle breeding is an international business, with trade of animal material across populations. Interbull performs international genetic evaluations of dairy bulls, enabling fair comparisons across populations. The bull daughter performances differ between populations and international evaluations therefore require estimation of genetic correlations between the populations. Prerequisites for estimating correlations are knowledge about the genetic variances and covariances within and between populations and the relationship between the bulls. Traditionally, pedigree information has been used to build the relationship matrix connecting included bulls. The recent developments in DNA technology have made it possible to also build genomic relationship matrices using information from the bull genomes. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate variances and covariances estimated using pedigree or genomic relationship matrices and the effect of factors such as trait heritability, population size, and number of bulls used in more than one population. Moreover, we evaluate the genetic correlations estimated using our different estimates. Genetic variance estimates were compared for a total of 175 population-trait combinations, and genetic covariance and correlation estimates were assessed for four populations and three traits. Phenotypes, genotypes and pedigree were available for 8 864 Brown Swiss bulls originating from Germany-Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United States of America. The results showed that more genetic variance and covariance was explained when the pedigree relationship matrix was used than using the genomic relationship matrix. We found an effect of trait heritability and population size on the genetic variance estimates and an effect of number of common bulls on the genetic covariance estimates. The estimated genetic correlations were similar for both relationship matrices used in the estimation of variances and covariances, indicating that it should be possible to obtain accurate across-population correlation estimates using genomic relationship matrices

The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin

This is the podcast transcript of a discussion of the book, The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin between its author Molly Loberg of the History department and Christian Anderson of the World Languages and Cultures department.https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/convocpauth/1024/thumbnail.jp

An Abstract of International Accounting Disclosure Standards

My thesis examines similarities and differences of disclosure standards from three different countries in three different areas from one multi-national corporation. 1995 financial statements from honeywell Incorporated, the United States parent company, and two Honeywell subsidiaries, one each located in the United Kingdom and Australia are examined for disclosure of accounting policies, accounting for contingencies and accounting for goodwill. Comparisons are given for the standards themselves, as well as the accounting policy chosen by each company. International Accounting Standards are also compared for the three disclosure areas. Comparability, especially for potential investors, is the main focus of harmonizing accounting disclosure standards internationally and my conclusion emphasizes the growing demand for improved comparability through the voluntary compliance with International Accounting Standards. A brief history of the International Accounting Standards Committee is also included

The Rangeroads

The Rangeroads is a graphic novel employing regionalism and Gothic elements to investigate how individual identities and landscape engage with the cultural-colonial and industrial-environmental history of the Peace Region. The narrative follows Cai Monkman, a Cree-Métis teenager who becomes lost in the network of rangeroads surrounding the rural Albertan town of Beaverlodge. The roads morph into a place both familiar and strange as Cai travels, encountering spirits, albino moose, and haunted pioneer shacks. At the same time, two lab assistants from the Beaverlodge Research Station investigate the sudden levitations of barley crops and a prophetic voice that phases in and out on a Grande Cache Radio station. The phenomena encountered by Cai and the researchers emanates from the rangeroads realm: a place-doppelgänger of the Peace Region where history manifests in the form of supernatural beings and occurrences. The Rangeroads is a Gothic portrait of place, zooming in on an obscure corner of Western Canada and the individuals who live there. Using tools of Gothic literature and a visual narrative, my thesis excavates the histories and current realities of a mostly-unknown regional community to offer a complex, metaphysical exploration of its identity

Forced distribution rating systems and team collaboration

This study provides three real-effort experiments on how a forced distribution rating system (FDRS) influences team collaboration. In the first and the second experiment, we examine the performance implications of an FDRS in a card sequencing task (1) when working alone and (2) when working in a team. In the third experiment, we test how an FDRS affects knowledge sharing within teams. Our findings show that an FDRS increases the speed of completing the card sequencing task when working alone and decreases the speed of completing the card sequencing task when working in a team. Beyond that, we find that an FDRS also significantly decreases knowledge sharing within teams. As the FDRS was perceived as unfair in collaborative settings but not when working alone, we provide evidence on the role of perceived justice concerning the effects of an FDRS and shed light on the psychological and economic consequences of introducing an FDRS in environments where team collaboration is essential for success. © 2021 The Author(s

Co-inoculation of prostate cancer cells with U937 enhances tumor growth and angiogenesis in vivo

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have been implicated in promoting tumor growth and development. Here we present evidence that demonstrates that co-inoculation of male athymic nude mice with PC-3 prostate cancer cells and U937 promonocytic cells enhances tumor growth and increases tumor angiogenesis.Male athymic nude mice were co-inoculated with PC-3 and U937 cells (control or IL-4 stimulated) and tumor growth was monitored over time. Immunohistochemical analysis of tumor specimens was performed for proliferation markers (e.g., Ki67) and the effects of IL-4 stimulation on U937 cells were analyzed for chemokine expression.The presence of U937 cells increased the rate of tumor growth in vivo and stimulated increased microvascular density within the tumor bed. Stimulation of U937 cells with IL-4 resulted in a significant increase in several pro-angiogenic and pro-tumor chemokines (e.g., CCL2).Co-inoculation increases prostate cancer growth via upregulation of chemokines that induce angiogenesis within the tumor. J. Cell. Biochem. 103: 1–8, 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57522/1/21379_ftp.pd

The seasonal park : a design proposal for Banvaktsparken

Banvaktsparken ligger utmed Hällbygatan i stadsdelen Luthagen i Uppsala och är cirka 0,4 hektar stor. En parkering, ett äldreboende och ett bullerplank mot Dalabanan angränsar mot parken. Jag upptäckte parken när jag sommarjobbade på Uppsala kommun under 2013. Jag besökte parken flera gånger och upptäckte att parkens enda besökare verkade vara hundägare som rastade sina hundar i parkens utkant mot Hällbygatan. Syftet med examensarbete är att ge parken en annan utformning och växtgestaltning som kan locka fler besökare. Målsättningen är att göra den mer använd och levande jämfört med idag. Arbetet inleddes med en litteraturstudie och samtal med Uppsala kommun som gav mig bakgrundsinformation och underlag. Därefter inventerade jag platsen och undersökte befintligt växtmaterial, markmaterial, markutrustning och klimat. Landskapsarkitekten och professorn Gunnar Jarle Sorte beskriver utifrån ett miljöpsykologiskt perspektiv hur åtta olika faktorer kan användas för att undersöka vilka kvaliteter parker tillför människor. Faktorerna är trivsamhet, komplexitet, helhet, rumslighet, kraftfullhet, social status, affektion och originalitet. Han beskriver slutligen hur dessa åtta faktorer bör vägas samman för att uppnå den ideala parken. Jag analyserade parken med inspiration från Sortes teori och som komplement analyserade jag stråk, målpunkter, barriärer och landmärken enligt Kevin Lynchs strukturanalys. Förslaget blev en park med en sluten del med ett gångstråk bland fält av perenner, prydnadsgräs och blommande träd. Det finns även en fond av blandvegetation av naturlik karaktär i kontrast mot delen med perenna planteringar. Den slutna delen avgränsas från den öppnare delen av en stödmur i lagom sitthöjd. Den öppna delen av parken består av en gräsmatta och befintliga lönnar som tillsammans med en måbärshäck ramar in parken från Hällbygatan. Gestaltningen inspirerades av Sortes teorier. Parken blev trivsam genom det stora antalet växter och bearbetningsnivån på planteringarna. Den uppnådde komplexitet genom växtmaterialets artrikedom och helhet gavs av återkommande kompositioner i planteringsytorna. Rumsligheten blev varierad genom en sluten och en öppen del. Kraftfullhet gavs av de befintliga lönnarna och stödmurens starka linje. Prydnadsgräs, perenner och blommande buskträd gav mjukhet i balans mot kraftfullheten. Affektionsvärden gavs av växtgestaltningens årstidsdynamik. Parkens originalitet gavs av stråket efter parkdelen med perennerna och den belysta stödmuren gav intressanta synintryck under dygnets mörka timmar. Examensarbetet resulterade i sex stycken planscher. Förslaget fick namnet Årstidernas park eftersom växtgestaltningen och upplevelsen av de olika årstiderna är gestaltningsförslagets huvudsakliga upplevelsemässiga mål. Parken erbjuder en promenad där växtgestaltningen ger olika upplevelser under året. Vuxna och äldre är de potentiella besökarna.Banvaktsparken is located along Hällbygatan in the district of Luthagen in Uppsala. The total area is 3700 square metres. A parking lot, a retirement home and a noise barrier that protects the area from the Dala Line is facing the park. I discovered the park when I was working at Uppsala Municipality during the summer of 2013. I visited the park several times and realized that the only visitors seemed to be people who were walking their dogs at the edges of the park. The purpose with this thesis is to present a design proposal for Banvaktsparken which aims to attract more visitors to the park. This will be achieved by focusing on the planting design to show the different seasons of the year. A litterature study and contact with officials at Uppsala Municipality gave me background information. I did an on-site inventory to study the content of the present park. The landscape architect and professor Gunnar Jarle Sorte writes in his theory in environmental psychology how eight different aspects can be used to describe the experience of parks and nature. These are; pleasantness, complexity, coherency, spatiality, virility, social status, affection and originality. My Analyzis was inspired by Sorte's theory and I also analyzed paths, nodes, barriers and landmarks inspired by the method of Kevin Lynch. The design proposal resulted in a park with an enclosed space with a refined part with different perennials and flowering trees. To add a volume of vegetation there is a mix of indigenous and horticultural species with similar character in contrast to the more refined parts. The enclosed space is separated from the open by a supporting wall in similar height as a bench. The open space consists of a lawn and some older, Norway maples in a line along Hällbygatan. The design was inspired by Sorte's theory. The park achieved pleasantness through the large amount of plants and level of refinement. Complexity is achieved by the diversity of species amongst the plants and coherency was given by repeating compositions in the planting design. The aspect of spatiality is given by including both an enclosed and an open space. Virility is achieved by keeping the existing Norway maples and the line that the supporting wall projects. Perennials and flowering trees are soft elements to balance the virility aspects. Affection is achieved by a planting design that gives different experiences during the year. Originality is given by the walking path amongst the perennials and the illuminated supporting wall gives interesting visual experiences during evening and night. The thesis resulted in six posters. The seasonal park (Årstidernas park) is the name of the proposal because the planting design was the most significant part of the design. The design proposal offers a walk for adults and older people who are the most potential visitors

Development of existing scoring systems to assess behavioural coping in shelter cats

Assessing how cats cope with the housing and husbandry at shelters is an important part of maintaining good animal welfare. There are non-invasive methods to assess how cats cope with their environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of the behaviours used in an extended Stress Assessment protocol for cats to detect stress. Looking at which behaviours are salient and possible to observe accurately, and which correlate with time until adoption. The study was carried out at a non-governmental medium sized cat rescue shelter in Midwestern USA. The shelter had a no-kill policy with screening of cats before intake from county shelters. The observed cats were either group-housed in five rooms (n = 70) or singly housed in double cages (n = 13). Observations were carried out during both morning and afternoon sessions, during which two 1-min observations recorded if cats performed any of 85 behavioural elements (BEs). Time at shelter and if cats were declawed or not were collected from shelter records after the observations. Statistical analysis of the BEs that best predicted the total time at shelter was calculated using the Survival Analysis based on the Cox proportional hazards regression model using a stepwise regression analysis separately for each scoring. The median time at shelter for group-housed cats was 26 days (IQR = 6-54) and for single-housed cats 29 days (IQR = 7-97). In total, 24 % of the BEs (20 of 85) were never recorded, however there were significantly more BEs recorded in group-housed cats (63 BEs) than in single-housed cats (49 BEs, p < 0.05). The survival analysis found 16 unique BEs to predict "Short time at shelter" (14 BEs in group-housed, two in single-housed), 14 were positively correlated meaning that they increased the chance of early adoption and two were negative meaning that they decreased the chance of early adoption. The survival analysis also calculated "Long time at shelter" and found 14 unique BEs where 12 BEs were in group-housed cats and three BEs were in single-housed cats. Seven of these were positively correlated meaning that they decreased the chance of early adoption, whereas seven were negatively correlated meaning that they increased the chance of early adoption. The conclusion is that the extended Stress Assessment could be used to detect BEs indicating stress of cats at shelters, and that there are BEs that can predict shorter time at the shelter. However, further investigations could help reduce the number of BEs needed

Etableringsbeskärning i offentlig miljö

En stor del av den natur som återfinns i tätorten är anlagd. Växtmaterialet kan därför i många hänseenden betraktas som ett av landskapsarkitektens mest betydelsefulla redskap för gestaltning. En förutsättning för att den anlagda naturen i tätorten skall uppfylla tilltänkt funktion är att tillväxten påbörjas så att normal utveckling sker efter plantering. Vattenbrist är ett vanligt förekommande problem vid nyplantering av vedartade växter vilket leder till problem med etableringen. Etableringsbeskärning innefattar alla beskärningsåtgärder som utförs för att underlätta växtens etablering och starta tillväxten på den nya växtplatsen. Den vanligaste formen av etableringsbeskärning innebär att vid vårplantering beskära fjolårsskotten till 30-50% av ursprunglig längd. Alternativt genomförs beskärningen påföljande vår efter höstplantering. Knoppsprickningen fördröjs med cirka 14 dagar och ger rötterna mer tid att leta sig ut i omgivande mark innan knoppsprickningen sker. Den minskade transpirerande bladytan gör också att rotsystemet har lättare att klara av vattenförsörjningen så växten kan upprätthålla vattenbalansen. Det är en grundförutsättning för att fotosyntesen skall fungera så växten kan bygga energiförråd för framtiden. Efter samtal med olika personer som arbetar med växtmaterial, dels växtexperter, projektörer och anläggare framkom det att etableringsbeskärning inte är vanligt förekommande i offentliga planteringar. Den vanligaste förklaringen är att busk- och marktäckande planteringar tenderar bli utsatta för nedtramp och andra fysiska skador eftersom de inte skulle synas om de etableringsbeskars. I dagsläget används också främst krukodlade plantor eller plantor som levereras med klump. Dessa planttyper är inte lika stressade som barrotade plantor eftersom de har fler medföljande rötter vid leverans. Det ökade användandet av bevattningssäckar har förbättrat villkoren för etablering och problemet med vattenbrist minskats. De flesta personer som arbetar med plantering och garantiskötsel vid nyanläggning upplever därför att det inte förekommer några större problem med etableringen av nya växter, såväl träd som buskar.A large part of the vegetation found in urban spaces is landscaped by humans. The plant material should therefore be regarded as one of the most important tools for design and creation for any landscape architect. It’s then important that landscaped nature in urban spaces start to grow after planting and develops over time as expected to fulfill its function. Shortage of water is a common problem that usually affects recently planted trees and bushes. They will then encounter problems with establishment and won’t start to grow. Establishment pruning refers to any pruning action taken to facilitate the plants establishment to start its growth on the new site. The most common form of establishment pruning is by pruning the sprouts of last year’s growth to approximately 30-50% of its original length. This action is implemented during spring planting, alternatively the following spring after autumn planting. It also delays the breaking of the buds by approximately 14 days which gives the roots additional time to seek they’re way out into the surrounding soil. The reduced leaf area makes it easier for the roots to support the plant with enough water to maintain a satisfactory balance of water. That is necessary for a successful and working photosynthesis which is required for the plant’s ability to build an energy reserve for the future. Dialogues with people with different professions that work with plant material revealed that establishment pruning is not common in public places. The most common explanation is that shrub and ground cover plantings is exposed to possible physical damage since pruned plants will be difficult to detect visually. They could therefor end up being trampled. The most common plant types that are used today are either field-potted or container grown plants. These are not as sensitive as a bare root plant since they’ve got more roots included at delivery. The increased use of slow release watering bags has improved the conditions for successful establishment of plants. Therefore has the problems with shortage of water decreased. Most professionals asked during this survey that work with planting and maintenance does not experience any major issues with the establishment of newly planted trees and bushes