Genotype by Environment Interaction for Holstein Milk Yield in Colombia, Mexico, and Puerto Rico

Components of (co)variance and genetic parameters were estimated by REML procedures from first lactation mature equivalent Holstein milk records from 54,604 Colombian, Mexican, and Puerto Rican cows and 198,079 US cows. The objective was to determine the cause of heterogeneous daughter response to sire selection for milk yield between the regions. Data from Latin America were partitioned by country and by herd-year SD class for milk to obtain five joint analyses between the US and Latin America, low herd-year SD, high herd year SD, Colombia, and Mexico. Sire and residual variances for milk were 41 and 29% smaller in Latin America than in the US, 47 and 58% smaller for low than for high herd-year SD, and 31 and 49% smaller for Colombia than for Mexico. Resultant heritabilities ranged from .20 to .29. Genetic correlations for milk yield between the US and Latin America, low and high herd-year SD, Colombia, and Mexico were .91, .82, .89, .78, and .90. Expected correlated responses for milk in Latin America, low and high herd-year SD, Colombia, and Mexico were 70, 53, 79.56, and 78% of the direct response in the US. The scaling effects of heterogeneous variance resulted in smaller daughter milk responses in Latin America compared with the US even when herd-year SD was similar

The use of a smartphone app and an activity tracker to promote physical activity in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease : randomized controlled feasibility study

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is highly prevalent and significantly affects the daily functioning of patients. Self-management strategies, including increasing physical activity, can help people with COPD have better health and a better quality of life. Digital mobile health (mHealth) techniques have the potential to aid the delivery of self-management interventions for COPD. We developed an mHealth intervention (Self-Management supported by Assistive, Rehabilitative, and Telehealth technologies-COPD [SMART-COPD]), delivered via a smartphone app and an activity tracker, to help people with COPD maintain (or increase) physical activity after undertaking pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Objective: This study aimed to determine the feasibility and acceptability of using the SMART-COPD intervention for the self-management of physical activity and to explore the feasibility of conducting a future randomized controlled trial (RCT) to investigate its effectiveness. Methods: We conducted a randomized feasibility study. A total of 30 participants with COPD were randomly allocated to receive the SMART-COPD intervention (n=19) or control (n=11). Participants used SMART-COPD throughout PR and for 8 weeks afterward (ie, maintenance) to set physical activity goals and monitor their progress. Questionnaire-based and physical activity–based outcome measures were taken at baseline, the end of PR, and the end of maintenance. Participants, and health care professionals involved in PR delivery, were interviewed about their experiences with the technology. Results: Overall, 47% (14/30) of participants withdrew from the study. Difficulty in using the technology was a common reason for withdrawal. Participants who completed the study had better baseline health and more prior experience with digital technology, compared with participants who withdrew. Participants who completed the study were generally positive about the technology and found it easy to use. Some participants felt their health had benefitted from using the technology and that it assisted them in achieving physical activity goals. Activity tracking and self-reporting were both found to be problematic as outcome measures of physical activity for this study. There was dissatisfaction among some control group members regarding their allocation. Conclusions: mHealth shows promise in helping people with COPD self-manage their physical activity levels. mHealth interventions for COPD self-management may be more acceptable to people with prior experience of using digital technology and may be more beneficial if used at an earlier stage of COPD. Simplicity and usability were more important for engagement with the SMART-COPD intervention than personalization; therefore, the intervention should be simplified for future use. Future evaluation will require consideration of individual factors and their effect on mHealth efficacy and use; within-subject comparison of step count values; and an opportunity for control group participants to use the intervention if an RCT were to be carried out. Sample size calculations for a future evaluation would need to consider the high dropout rates

Mineral analysis reveals extreme manganese concentrations in wild harvested and commercially available edible termites

Open Access Journal; Published online: 09 April 2020Termites are widely used as a food resource, particularly in Africa and Asia. Markets for insects as food are also expanding worldwide. To inform the development of insect-based foods, we analysed selected minerals (Fe-Mn-Zn-Cu-Mg) in wild-harvested and commercially available termites. Mineral values were compared to selected commercially available insects. Alate termites, of the genera Macrotermes and Odontotermes, showed remarkably high manganese (Mn) content (292–515 mg/100 gdw), roughly 50–100 times the concentrations detected in other insects. Other mineral elements occur at moderate concentrations in all insects examined. On further examination, the Mn is located primarily in the abdomens of the Macrotermes subhyalinus; with scanning electron microscopy revealing small spherical structures highly enriched for Mn. We identify the fungus comb, of Macrotermes subhyanus, as a potential biological source of the high Mn concentrations. Consuming even small quantities of termite alates could exceed current upper recommended intakes for Mn in both adults and children. Given the widespread use of termites as food, a better understanding the sources, distribution and bio-availability of these high Mn concentrations in termite alates is needed

A non-parametric structural hybrid modeling approach for electricity prices

We develop a stochastic model of zonal/regional electricity prices, designed to reflect information in fuel forward curves and aggregated capacity and load as well as zonal or regional price spreads. We use a nonparametric model of the supply stack that captures heat rates and fuel prices for all generators in the market operator territory, combined with an adjustment term to approximate congestion and other zone-specific behavior. The approach requires minimal calibration effort, is readily adaptable to changing market conditions and regulations, and retains sufficient tractability for the purpose of forward price calibration. The model is illustrated for the spot and forward electricity prices of the PS zone in the PJM market, and the set of time-dependent risk premiums are inferred and analyzed

High School Exit Examinations: When Do Learning Effects Generalize?

This paper reviews international and domestic evidence on the effects of three types of high school exit exam systems: voluntary curriculum-based external exit exams, universal curriculum-based external exit exam systems and minimum competency tests that must be passed to receive a regular high school diploma. The nations and provinces that use Universal CBEEES (and typically teacher grades as well) to signal student achievement have significantly higher achievement levels and smaller differentials by family background than otherwise comparable jurisdictions that base high stakes decisions on voluntary college admissions tests and/or teacher grades. The introduction of Universal CBEEES in New York and North Carolina during the 1990s was associated with large increases in math achievement on NAEP tests. Research on MCTs and high school accountability tests is less conclusive because these systems are new and have only been implemented in one country. Cross-section studies using a comprehensive set of controls for family background have not found that students in MCT states score higher on audit tests like the NAEP that carry no stakes for the test taker. The analysis reported in table 1 tells us that the five states that introduced MCTs during the 1990s had significantly larger improvements on NAEP tests than states that made no change in their student accountability regime. The gains, however, are smaller than for the states introducing Universal CBEEES. New York and North Carolina. The most positive finding about MCTs is that students in MCT states earn significantly more during the first eight years after graduation than comparable students in other states suggesting that MCTs improve employer perceptions of the quality of the recent graduates of local high schools

Academic team formation as evolving hypergraphs

This paper quantitatively explores the social and socio-semantic patterns of constitution of academic collaboration teams. To this end, we broadly underline two critical features of social networks of knowledge-based collaboration: first, they essentially consist of group-level interactions which call for team-centered approaches. Formally, this induces the use of hypergraphs and n-adic interactions, rather than traditional dyadic frameworks of interaction such as graphs, binding only pairs of agents. Second, we advocate the joint consideration of structural and semantic features, as collaborations are allegedly constrained by both of them. Considering these provisions, we propose a framework which principally enables us to empirically test a series of hypotheses related to academic team formation patterns. In particular, we exhibit and characterize the influence of an implicit group structure driving recurrent team formation processes. On the whole, innovative production does not appear to be correlated with more original teams, while a polarization appears between groups composed of experts only or non-experts only, altogether corresponding to collectives with a high rate of repeated interactions

Field Measurements of Terrestrial and Martian Dust Devils

Surface-based measurements of terrestrial and martian dust devils/convective vortices provided from mobile and stationary platforms are discussed. Imaging of terrestrial dust devils has quantified their rotational and vertical wind speeds, translation speeds, dimensions, dust load, and frequency of occurrence. Imaging of martian dust devils has provided translation speeds and constraints on dimensions, but only limited constraints on vertical motion within a vortex. The longer mission durations on Mars afforded by long operating robotic landers and rovers have provided statistical quantification of vortex occurrence (time-of-sol, and recently seasonal) that has until recently not been a primary outcome of more temporally limited terrestrial dust devil measurement campaigns. Terrestrial measurement campaigns have included a more extensive range of measured vortex parameters (pressure, wind, morphology, etc.) than have martian opportunities, with electric field and direct measure of dust abundance not yet obtained on Mars. No martian robotic mission has yet provided contemporaneous high frequency wind and pressure measurements. Comparison of measured terrestrial and martian dust devil characteristics suggests that martian dust devils are larger and possess faster maximum rotational wind speeds, that the absolute magnitude of the pressure deficit within a terrestrial dust devil is an order of magnitude greater than a martian dust devil, and that the time-of-day variation in vortex frequency is similar. Recent terrestrial investigations have demonstrated the presence of diagnostic dust devil signals within seismic and infrasound measurements; an upcoming Mars robotic mission will obtain similar measurement types