The carcass composition and meat quality of male fallow deer : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science at Massey University

Fallow deer (Dama dama) are rapidly gaining in popularity in New Zealand as a farmed species for venison production. Subjective observations suggest that venison from fallow deer up to 2 years of age has the desirable 'leaness' characteristic. The main objective of this study was to investigate relationships between carcass weight (20-40 kg), age (13, 17 and 25 months), season of slaughter {summer vs. early winter) and aspects of carcass quality in male fallow deer. Groups of male fallow deer raised on pasture near Te Puke (8 animals per group) were slaughtered at approximately 13 months (mid January), 17 months (late May), and 25 months of age (mid January). Average liveweights and carcass weights at slaughter were 43 and 25 kg at 13 months (Ml3), 47 and 28 kg at 17 months (M17), and 60 and 36 kg at 25 months of age (M25). Dressing-out percentage increased from 58.6 to 61.8% over the liveweight range of 41 to 66 kg. The pattern of tissue growth with increasing liveweight was similar to that exhibited by other meat-producing ruminants. Allometric growth coefficients for the four dissected components relative to carcass weight were: muscle, 0.85; bone, 0.62; intermuscular fat, 1.61 and subcutaneous fat, 2.85. Percentage total fat in the carcass was 7.8% in M13, 9.4% in Ml7 and 12.3% in M25 bucks. Low fat contents were accompanied by a high percentage of muscle in the carcass, 74.3% in Ml3, 71.5% in M17, 70.1% in M25, and hence high muscle to bone ratios (mean= 5.5). The mean proportion of the carcass in each commercial cut was neck, 12.6%; flank, 15.4%; shoulder, 17.8%; saddle, 15.5% and haunch, 39.4%. Allometric growth coefficients for the 5 commercial cuts relative to side weight were neck, 1.02; flap, 1.33; shoulder, 0.87; saddle, 1.04 and haunch, 0.91. With increasing carcass weight minor relative redistribution of muscle, fat and bone across the carcass cuts was detected. The decrease in the relative proportion of the carcass in the primal haunch cut was due solely to a decrease in the proportion of bone in the cut. The allometric growth coefficient of bone in the haunch relative to total side bone was 0.76. The saddle was the major site for subcutaneous fat deposition with increasing carcass weight. The allometric growth coefficient of subcutaneous fat in the saddle relative to total side subcutaneous fat was 1.26. The flank was the major site for intermuscular fat deposition with an allometric growth coefficient of 1.29 relative to total side intermuscular fat. There were no differences in the proportions of the total dissected tissues between group M17 (slaughtered in early winter) and groups Ml3 and M25 (slaughtered in summer) other than could be explained by differences in carcass weight. However, the proportion of total muscle weight in some individually weighed haunch and neck muscles were consistently lowest and highest respectively in the M17 group. The chemical composition of the dissected tissues and some individual muscles was determined. The percentage water in the muscle tissue of the M17 group was lower and the percentage protein higher than in groups M13 and M25. The lipid percentage of the fat depots was low (subcutaneous, mean= 58%; intermuscular, mean= 47%). Carcass weight explained 81% of the variation in carcass fat. Fat-depth 'C' and kidney fat weight explained a further 10.3 and 11.3% respectively, of the total carcass fat variation. Meat quality characteristics measured were colour, ultimate pH, tenderness and water-holding capacity. The major meat quality differences were between group M17, and groups Ml3 and M25. Meat colour was darker and water-holding capacity greater in Groups Ml3 and M25. This was attributed primarily to differences in conditions at slaughter. Warner-Bratzler shear (tenderness) values averaged 3.73 kg and 4.68 kg for the mm. longissimus and semimembranosus respectively. These values were lower than those reported for sheep and cattle

Product Market Competition and Human Resource Practices: An Analysis of the Retail Food Sector

The rise of super-centers and the entry of Wal-Mart into food retailing have dramatically altered the competitive environment in the industry. This paper explores the impact of such changes on the labor market practices of traditional food retailers. We use longitudinal data on workers and firms to construct new measures of compensation and employment, and examine how these measures evolve within and across firms in response to changes in product market structure. An additional feature of the analysis is to combine rich case study knowledge about the retail food industry with the new matched employer-employee data from the Census Bureau.

Phosphorylation of androgen receptors at serine 515 is a potential prognostic marker for triple negative breast cancer

1.7 million cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year with 522,000 deaths. Molecular classifications of breast cancer have resulted in improved treatments. However, treatments for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) are lacking. Analysis of molecular targets for TNBC is a priority. One potential candidate is androgen receptor (AR) phosphorylation. This study assessed the role of AR phosphorylation at ser81/ser515 and their two upstream effectors, cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (pCDK1) and extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 (pERK1/2) in 332 ductal breast cancer patients by immunohistochemistry. pERK1/2 combined with AR-515 associated with improved cancer-specific survival (CSS, p = 0.038), decreased size (p = 0.001), invasive grade (p < 0.001), necrosis (p = 0.003), b-lymphocytes (p = 0.020), molecular subtype (p < 0.001) and estrogen receptor (ER)/progesterone receptor (PR)-status (p < 0.001). The cohort was therefore stratified into ER+ve and ER-ve patients. In ER+ve tumours, pERK1/2 combined with AR-515 associated with improved CSS (p = 0.038), smaller size (p = 0.004), invasive grade (p = 0.001), decreased b-lymphocytes (p = 0.013) and increased plasma cells (p = 0.048). In contrast, in TNBC patients, phosphorylation of AR-515 associated with poorer CSS (p = 0.007). pERK1/2 combined with AR-515 associated with decreased inflammation (p = 0.003), increased tumour stroma (p = 0.003) and tumour budding (p = 0.011), with trends towards decrease CSS (p = 0.065) and macrophage levels (p = 0.093). In Conclusions, AR-515 may be an important regulator of inflammation in breast cancer potential via ERK1/2 phosphorylation. AR-515 is a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for TNBC

Product Market Competition and Human Resource Practices: An Analysis of the Retail Food Sector

The rise of super-centers and the entry of Wal-Mart into food retailing have dramatically altered the competitive environment in the industry. This paper explores the impact of such changes on the labor market practices of traditional food retailers. We use longitudinal data on workers and firms to construct new measures of compensation and employment, and examine how these measures evolve within and across firms in response to changes in product market structure. An additional feature of the analysis is to combine rich case study knowledge about the retail food industry with the new matched employer-employee data from the Census Bureau.supermarkets, human resource practices, competition, internal labor market, wage growth, Labor and Human Capital, Marketing,

Discursive Intersections: Tracing The Becoming Of Pre-Service Teachers - An Action Research Study

The purpose of this study was to construct knowledge about the intersections between a teacher educator’s discourses and pre-service teacher identity performances in a university classroom. The researcher used Mills’ (2011) action research design to examine the ways she intersected with the identity performances of 24 pre-service teachers in a literacy methods course. Data collection included audio recordings and transcriptions of class sessions, a teacher journal, written communication between teacher and students, and course assignments. Thematic analysis and methods of discourse analysis were used to identify patterns across pre-service teachers’ performances in the classroom. Findings revealed multiple, fluid, dynamically evolving, and sometimes conflicting performances of student and teacher identities, and reoccurring tension points at intersections between the researcher and pre-service teachers. Analysis of the data supported the construction of a theoretical model that elucidates the ways in which multiple intersections contributed to various and fluid identity performances, and the ways generative dissonance influenced identity performances and classroom pedagogies across the semester. A discussion of metaphors to understand dissonance in teacher education and implications for K-12 and teacher educators is provided

Decomposing the Sources of Earnings Inequality: Assessing the Role of Reallocation

This paper exploits longitudinal employer-employee matched data from the U.S. Census Bureau to investigate the contribution of worker and firm reallocation to changes in earnings inequality within and across industries between 1992 and 2003. We find that factors that cannot be measured using standard cross-sectional data, including the entry and exit of firms and the sorting of workers across firms, are important sources of changes in earnings distributions over time. Our results also suggest that the dynamics driving changes in earnings inequality are heterogeneous across industries.inequality, linked employer-employee data, sorting

Decomposing the Sources of Earnings Inequality Assessing the Role of Reallocation

This paper uses matched employer-employee data from the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics database to investigate the contribution of worker and firm reallocation to within industry changes in wage inequality between 1992 and 2003. We find that the entry and exit of firms and the sorting of workers and firms based on underlying worker "skills" are important determinants of changes in industry earnings distributions over time. Our results suggest that the underlying dynamics of earnings inequality are complex and are due to factors that cannot be measured in standard crosssectional data.

O papel da criança no processo de decisão de compra da família

Dissertação de mest., Marketing, Faculdade de Economia, Univ. do Algarve, 2013Conhecer e compreender o papel da criança no processo de decisão de compra tem despertado o interesse da sociedade civil, académica e empresarial há muitos anos. Perceber o lugar da criança na família, o papel que desempenha nas decisões, os resultados desse contributo e as suas implicações no seio familiar tem estado na base de muitos estudos sobre o processo de decisão de compra familiar. O presente trabalho procura conhecer o nível de influência das crianças no processo de decisão de compra da família. Em particular, pretende-se melhor compreender os principais fatores sociais, demográficos e económicos que mais determinam essa influência. Para tal, após um revisão cuidadosa da literatura, realizou-se um questionário a uma amostra de encarregados de educação de crianças entre os 3 e os 12 anos residentes em Portugal, quanto ao grau de influência que os seus filhos desempenharam aquando a última compra de 5 produtos - o gelado, o brinquedo, o livro, a ida a parque e férias. Posteriormente procurou-se cruzar os resultados obtidos com as características sociodemográficas e económicas da família bem como alguns fatores externos, tais como a exposição à televisão e á internet das crianças. Os resultados demonstram que a influência da criança no processo de decisão de compra percecionado pelos pais varia de acordo com o tipo de produto e a etapa no processo de decisão. Observou-se também que existem algumas características sociodemográficas que têm maior expressão sobre a influência em algumas fases do processo de decisão de compra

Enabling human pluripotent stem cell derived megakaryocyte

Annually 4.5 million platelet units are transfused in Europe and the United States. These are obtained solely from allogeneic donations and have a shelf life of 5-7 days. To address the corresponding supply challenge, Moreau et al. have devised a novel process for producing megakaryocytes (MKs, the platelet precursor cell) in vitro. A transcription-factor driven, forward-programming approach converts human pluripotent stem cells into MKs. This strategy has the unique advantage of generating high yields of pure MKs in chemically defined medium through the establishment of 2-3 month long-term cultures. This could lead to the production of a consistent, reliable supply of platelets which overcomes the logistical, financial and biosafety challenges for health organisations worldwide. However to enable commercialisation of platelet manufacture, process optimisation and scale-up are essential. Medium can contribute a significant proportion of the cost of a cell based product. We have used tissue culture flasks to represent static culture and compared this to a scaled-down automated bioreactor system (ambr15, Sartorius) to evaluate feasibility and optimisation factors for the growth of forward programmed (FoP) MKs in scalable stirred-suspension culture. The medium supply and exchange strategy were analysed using high temporal resolution growth curves for three medium exchange regimes. We assessed the productivity of the medium, showing that approximately 1.3 million cells are produced per millilitre of medium. Common metabolites lactate and ammonium were unlikely to be limiting proliferation and only 20% of glucose was depleted. Using novel deterministic modelling software developed by our group, we have constructed a model of forward-programmed MKs growth. Based on inhibitor production, the model demonstrates the most efficient expansion strategy using the exchange strategies and observed growth characteristics of proliferating populations. Cell populations were identified using flow cytometry and phenotype analysis. This type of mechanistic modelling can be used to inform and optimise manufacturing strategy for scaled production of FoPMKs for platelet production and more generally for the manufacturing of cell based therapies