Genetic variation in lamb growth and carcass composition

The results of two experiments designed to examine the effects of genetic and environmental factors on the liveweight growth and carcass composition of cross-bred lambs are reported.In the first experiment, data were available for the progeny of Dorset Down, lie de France, Oldenburg, Oxford, Suffolk and Texel sires out of Border Leicester * Scottish Blackface and ABRO Dam Line (5 strains) x Scottish Blackface ewes. Analyses were made for (a) growth traits to 12 weeks for 2585 lambs, the progeny of 102 sires; (b) growth traits to slaughter at fixed weights of 35 kg and 40 kg for 1884 lambs (79 sires); and (c) half carcass dissection traits for 956 lambs (65 sires.Sire breed, year, sex, rearing type, ewe age and other environ­mental factors significantly affected liveweight growth traits, percentage carcass composition and the distribution of dissectible lean tissue and subcutaneous fat between eight standard joints.Paternal half-sib estimates of the heritability of liveweight growth rates to slaughter were low (0.10 ± 0.06). Moderate heritability estimates were recorded for percentage lean in the carcass (0.41 ± 0.13), lean tissue and subcutaneous fat distribution. Estimates of the genetic and phenotypic correlations between traits are also presented.In the second experiment the range of sire breeds was extended/to include the Southdown and Cotswold. Data for 511 lambs, the progeny of 4 to 8 sires/breed and serially slaughtered at 13, 17, 21,25, 29, 33, 37, 41, 51 and approximately 63 weeks of age, were analysed using the allometric equation. Analyses of the growth of dissectible carcass' tissues relative to age, liveweight and side weight, of dissectible subcutaneous, intermuscular and kidney knob and channel fat relative to lean tissue weight, and of lean tissue relative to bone weight, are reported.In general, the effects of breed, year, ewe age, rearing type and sex upon differential growth patterns were not significant (P > 0.05). However, significant (P < 0.05) effects of sire breed and of environmental factors on intercepts are reported

The static and dynamic fracture of brittle materials

Contains published articles.Bibliography: p. 131-138.Experiments on the behaviour of brittle materials, particularly quartz, during the initial period of loading, at the onset of fracture and during the stage of rapid crack propagation, have been performed in order to gain an insight into some of the fundamental processes of brittle fracture which might prove useful in the solution of practical problems in mining and process operations. Studies have also been conducted into the nature of the damage produced by a diamond stylus sliding on a quartz surface. The results of these studies have been correlated with ancilliary experiments in which the effects of the deformation produced by a sharp indenter and sliding diamond polishing particles on quartz were examined. The geometry of cracks in glass and quartz during the loading stage has been observed by scanning electron microscopy and was found to be approximately elliptical. By making some simple assumptions, an equation has been derived that enables the fracture surface energy to be deduced from shape of the crack and the loading conditions. The brittleness of a material is indicated by the difference between the fracture surface energy and the thermodynamic surface energy of the material. In a perfectly brittle body they are equal. In order to make an accurate comparison with the true surface energy in quartz as calculated from atomic bond energy data, anisotropic elastic theory was used in the evaluation of the fracture surface energy

3D Standard Brain of the Red Flour Beetle Tribolium Castaneum: A Tool to Study Metamorphic Development and Adult Plasticity

The red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum is emerging as a further standard insect model beside Drosophila. Its genome is fully sequenced and it is susceptible for genetic manipulations including RNA-interference. We use this beetle to study adult brain development and plasticity primarily with respect to the olfactory system. In the current study, we provide 3D standard brain atlases of freshly eclosed adult female and male beetles (A0). The atlases include eight paired and three unpaired neuropils including antennal lobes (ALs), optic lobe neuropils, mushroom body calyces and pedunculi, and central complex. For each of the two standard brains, we averaged brain areas of 20 individual brains. Additionally, we characterized eight selected olfactory glomeruli from 10 A0 female and male beetles respectively, which we could unequivocally recognize from individual to individual owing to their size and typical position in the ALs. In summary, comparison of the averaged neuropil volumes revealed no sexual dimorphism in any of the reconstructed neuropils in A0 Tribolium brains. Both, the female and male 3D standard brain are also used for interspecies comparisons, and, importantly, will serve as future volumetric references after genetical manipulation especially regarding metamorphic development and adult plasticity

Microbial diversity in the digestive tract of two different breeds of sheep

Aims: This work aims to determine the factors which play a role in establishing the microbial population throughout the digestive tract in ruminants and is necessary to enhance our understanding of microbial establishment and activity. Methods and Results: This study used Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (TRFLP) to investigate the microbial profiles of 11 regions of the digestive tract of two breeds of sheep (Beulah and Suffolk). TRFLP data revealed that the regions of the digestive tract were highly significantly different in terms of the composition of the bacterial communities within three distinct clusters of bacterial colonisation (foregut, midgut and hindgut). The data also show that breed was a significant factor in the establishment of the bacterial component of the microbial community, but that no difference was detected between ciliated protozoal populations. Conclusions: We infer that not only are the different regions of the tract important in determining the composition of the microbial communities in the sheep, but so too is the breed of the animal. Significance and Impact of Study: This is the first time that a difference has been detected in the digestive microbial population of two different breeds of sheep

Coordination and Output Attainment in Work Units Performing Non-routine Tasks: A Cross- National Study

Based on an information-processing perspective (Galbraith 1972), a theoretical pro position is advanced which predicts that for work units performing non-routine tasks, the effect of unit coordination on output attainment is contingent on the sources from which the unit acquires information for task performance. This proposition is tested using a cross-national research design. Data from four national samples — Austria, Belgium, Hungary, and Poland — of academic research units support the proposition. The results reinforce the need for a contingency approach to the study of coordination and performance in organizations. They also provide some insight into the interplay between society and organization.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68600/2/10.1177_017084068500600102.pd

Wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) remember single foraging episodes

This study was supported by grants from Zürcher Hochschulverein, Schweizerische Akademie für Naturwissenschaften, Stiftung Thyll-Dürr, and Stiftung Annemarie Schindler, to R.N.Understanding animal episodic-like memory is important for tracing the evolution of the human mind. However, our knowledge about the existence and nature of episodic-like memory in non-human primates is minimal. We observed the behaviour of a wild male chacma baboon faced with a trade-off between protecting his stationary group from aggressive extra-group males and foraging among five out-of-sight platforms. These contained high-priority food at a time of natural food shortage. In 10 morning and eight evening trials, the male spontaneously visited the platforms in five and four different sequences, respectively. In addition, he interrupted foraging sequences at virtually any point on eight occasions, returning to the group for up to 2 h. He then visited some or all of the remaining platforms and prevented revisits to already depleted ones, apparently based on his memory for the previous foraging episode about food value, location, and time. Efficient use of memory allowed him to keep minimal time absent from his group while keeping food intake high. These findings support the idea that episodic-like memory offers an all-purpose solution to a wide variety of problems that require flexible, quick, yet precise decisions in situations arising from competition for food and mates in wild primates.PostprintPeer reviewe

Linking phenotypic correlations from a diverse set of laboratory tests to field behaviors in the crayfish, Orconectes virilis

The presence of phenotypic behavioral correlations and their connection to fitness consequences of organisms have received considerable debate within the literature. Yet, little work has been carried out to connect any behavioral correlates found within a set of laboratory studies to natural behavior observed under complex environmental conditions. To help fill this gap, individual crayfish, collected from the same local population, completed five different behavioral assays in a laboratory setting in a random order. These data were used to reveal any possible correlations for behavioral scores across all of the laboratory tests. Subsequently, these same individuals were placed into the field and video recorded for 24 hr. A separate set of field behaviors, related to the laboratory assays, were quantified from the field videos. The normalized laboratory and field behaviors were used in three stepwise statistical analyses. First, normalized data were loaded into a PCA to generate a priori hypotheses on potential behavioral correlates. These hypotheses were subsequently tested using general multiple linear regression. Finally, structural equation modeling was performed to elucidate any behavioral modules from the laboratory assays that correlated with behavioral patterns present from the fieldwork. Three laboratory‐based behavioral modules were connected to three separate field assays: exploration–avoidance, bold–shy, and aggressiveness. Yet, some behaviors exhibited in the laboratory assays were uncorrelated with any behaviors found in the field and vice versa. Results from this study provide evidence that although many different behavioral correlates may exist within laboratory settings, these same modules may not translate directly into predicting behavior under natural settings.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143757/1/eth12734_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143757/2/eth12734.pd

Identification of heavy-flavour jets with the CMS detector in pp collisions at 13 TeV

Many measurements and searches for physics beyond the standard model at the LHC rely on the efficient identification of heavy-flavour jets, i.e. jets originating from bottom or charm quarks. In this paper, the discriminating variables and the algorithms used for heavy-flavour jet identification during the first years of operation of the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, are presented. Heavy-flavour jet identification algorithms have been improved compared to those used previously at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. For jets with transverse momenta in the range expected in simulated $\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}$ events, these new developments result in an efficiency of 68% for the correct identification of a b jet for a probability of 1% of misidentifying a light-flavour jet. The improvement in relative efficiency at this misidentification probability is about 15%, compared to previous CMS algorithms. In addition, for the first time algorithms have been developed to identify jets containing two b hadrons in Lorentz-boosted event topologies, as well as to tag c jets. The large data sample recorded in 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV has also allowed the development of new methods to measure the efficiency and misidentification probability of heavy-flavour jet identification algorithms. The heavy-flavour jet identification efficiency is measured with a precision of a few per cent at moderate jet transverse momenta (between 30 and 300 GeV) and about 5% at the highest jet transverse momenta (between 500 and 1000 GeV)