The effects of stall surfaces and milk yield on the lying behavior of dairy cow

The importance of lying behavior to dairy cows and the feasible definition of lying has attracted many studies on the subject. Cattle show both behavioral and physiological stress responses when subjected to thwarting of their lying behavior. If cows are unable to lie down they later compensate for lost lying time when possible. Environmental factors such as housing and bedding systems have been noted to affect the time spent lying, but there is usually large variation in lying time between individuals. Internal factors such as the reproductive stage, age and health of cows affect their lying time and can cause variation. However, the effect of higher milk production on behavior has not previously been illuminated. The objective of this study was to provide data applicable for the improvement of resting conditions of cows. The preference of stall surface material, differences in normal behavior per unit time and various health measures were observed. The aim was to evaluate lying behavior and cow comfort on different stall bedding materials. In addition, the effect of milk yield on behavior was examined in a tie stall experiment. The preferences for surface materials were investigated in 5 experiments using 3 surface materials with bedding manipulations. According to the results, the cows preferred abundant straw bedding and soft rubber mats. However, they showed an aversion to sand bedding. Some individuals even refused to use stalls with sand when no organic bedding material was present. However, this study was unable to determine the reason for the avoidance, as neither the sand particle size nor thermal properties appeared critical. However, previous exposure to particular surface materials increased the preference for them. The amount of straw bedding was found to be an important factor affecting the preferences for stalls, and the lying time in stalls increased when the flooring softness was improved by applying straw or by installing elastic mats. Despite sand being the least preferred flooring material in preference tests, the health of legs improved during exposure to sand-floored stalls. Moreover cows using sand were cleaner than those that used straw stalls. Thus, sand bedding entailed some health benefits despite the contradictory results of preference tests, which more strongly reflected the perceptions of individual animals. Milk yield was observed to affect behavior by reducing the lying time, possibly due to factors other than longer duration of eating. High yielding cows seemed to intensify their lying bouts, as they were observed to lie with the neck muscles relaxed sooner after lying down than lower yielding cows. In conclusion, cows were found to prefer softer stall surface materials and organic bedding material. In addition, the lying time was reduced by a high milk yield, although the lying time seemed to be important for resting. Cows might differ in the needs for their lying environment. The management of dairy cows should eliminate any unnecessary prevention of lying, as even in tie-stalls high yielding cows seem to be affected by time constraints. Adding fresh bedding material to stalls increases the comfort of any stall flooring material.

The prevention of workplace bullying as a question of human resource management: measures adopted and underlying organizational factors

The aim of this study has been to analyze measures adopted to counteract workplace bullying from the perspective of human resource management. First, the kind of measures that are adopted to prevent bullying were examined. Second, factors affecting the extent of such measures were explored. The introduction of written anti-bullying policies and the provision of information were found to be the most common measures adopted. The policies strongly emphasized the role of supervisors and the immediate superior. Measures to counteract bullying were positively related to the adoption of ‘sophisticated’ human resource practices, previous negative publicity concerning bullying and the presence of a young human resource manager. The results, however, also indicated that imitation seemed to provide an important impetus behind anti-bullying efforts.

Organizational Measures Taken against Workplace Bullying: The Case of Finnish Municipalities

Although workplace bullying and other inappropriate treatment in the workplace have received growing attention, especially in Northern Europe, in the past few decades, little research has so far been conducted about the prevention of and intervention in such phenomena. This paper provides a review of different organizational measures typically recommended for preventing and intervening in workplace bullying and other forms of inappropriate treatment in the workplace. These measures include anti-bullying policies, training and information, appropriate job designs, active monitoring, and early intervention. As for intervention, both informal and formal strategies are discussed. Furthermore, the paper reports findings from a study among Finnish municipalities on the extent to which these measures are actually used in Finland, a country that has fairly recently introduced anti-bullying legislation.

T-type calcium channel:from physiological function to therapeutical targeting – Exploring neuronal development

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoitus oli tutkia T-tyypin kalsiumkanavan toimintaa ja sen mahdollista roolia neuronaalisten kantasolujen migraatiossa. T-tyypin kalsiumkanavan tehtävän kehittyneissä aivoissa tiedetään olevan elektroenkefalografisten oskillaatioiden tuottaminen. Nämä taas ovat eräiden fysiologisten ja patofysiologisten tapahtumien säätelyssä avainasemassa. Tällaisia tapahtumia ovat uni, muisti, oppiminen ja epileptiset poissaolokohtaukset. Näiden lisäksi T-tyypin kalsiumkanavalla on myös periferaalisia vaikutuksia, mutta tämä tutkielma keskittyy sen neuronaalisiin toimintoihin. Tämän matalan jännitteen säätelemän kanavan toiminta neurogeneesin aikana on vähemmän tutkittua ja tunnettua kuin sen vaikutukset kehittyneissä aivoissa. T-tyypin kalsiumkanavan tiedetään edistävän kantasolujen proliferaatiota ja erilaistumista neurogeneesiksen aikana, mutta vaikutukset niiden migraatioon ovat vähemmän tunnetut. Tämä tutkimus näyttää T-tyypin kalsiumkanavan todennäköisesti osallistuvan neuronaaliseen migraatioon hiiren alkion subventrikkeli alueelta eristetyillä kanta- tai progeniittorisoluilla tehdyissä kokeissa. Selektiiviset T-tyypin kalsiumkanavan antagonistit, etosuksimidi, nikkeli ja skorpionitoksiini, kurtoxin hidastivat migraatiota erilaistuvissa progeniittorisoluissa. Tämä tutkimus koostuu kirjallisuuskatsauksesta ja kokeellisesta osasta. Tämän tutkimuksen toinen tarkoitus oli esitellä vaihtoehtoinen lähestymistapa invasiiviselle kantasoluterapialle, joka vaatii kantasolujen viljelyä ja siirtämistä ihmiseen. Tämä toinen tapa on endogeenisten kantasolujen eiinvasiivinen stimulointi, jolla ne saadaan migratoitumaan kohdekudokseen, erilaistumaan siellä ja tehtävänsä suoritettuaan lopettamaan jakaantumisen. Non-invasiivinen kantasoluterapia on vasta tiensä alussa, ja tarvitsee farmakologista osaamista kehittyäkseen. Joitain onnistuneita ei-invasiivisia hoitoja on jo tehty selkärangan vaurioiden korjaamisessa. Vastaavanlaisia menetelmiä voitaisiin käyttää myös keskushermoston vaurioiden ja neurodegeneratiivisten sairauksien hoidossa. Näiden menetelmien kehittäminen vaatii endogeenisten kantasoluja inhiboivien ja indusoivien mekanismien tuntemista. Yksi tärkeä kantasolujen erilaistumista stimuloiva tekijä on kalsiumioni. Jänniteherkät kalsiumkanavat osallistuvat kaikkiin neurogeneesiksen eri vaiheisiin. T-tyypin kalsiumkanava, joka ekspressoituu suuressa määrin keskushermoston kehityksen alkuvaiheessa ja vähenee neuronaalisen kehityksen edetessä, saattaa olla oleellisessa asemassa progeniittorisolujen ohjaamisessa.

Overwintering ecology of northern field layer plants : snow and photosynthesis in Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.

Winter is a significant period for the seasonality of northern plants, but is often overlooked when studying the interactions of plants and their environment. This study focuses on the effects of overwintering conditions, including warm winter periods, snow, and snowmelt on boreal and sub-Arctic field layer plants. Wintertime photosynthesis and related physiological factors of evergreen dwarf shrubs, particularly of Vaccinium vitis-idaea, are emphasised. The work combines experiments both in the field and in growth chambers with measurements in natural field conditions. Evergreen dwarf shrubs are predominantly covered by snow in the winter. The protective snow cover provides favourable conditions for photosynthesis, especially during the spring before snowmelt. The results of this study indicate that photosynthesis occurs under the snow in V. vitis-idaea. The light response of photosynthesis determined in field conditions during the period of snow cover shows that positive net CO2 exchange is possible under the snow in the prevailing light and temperature. Photosynthetic capacity increases readily during warm periods in winter and the plants are thus able to replenish carbohydrate reserves lost through respiration. Exposure to low temperatures in combination with high light following early snowmelt can set back photosynthesis as sustained photoprotective measures are activated and photodamage begins to build up. Freezing may further decrease the photosynthetic capacity. The small-scale distribution of many field layer plants, including V. vitis-idaea and other dwarf shrubs, correlates with the snow distribution in a forest. The results of this study indicate that there are species-specific differences in the snow depth affinity of the field and ground layer species. Events and processes taking place in winter can have a profound effect on the overall performance of plants and on the interactions between plants and their environment. Understanding the processes involved in the overwintering of plants is increasingly important as the wintertime climate in the north is predicted to change in the future.

Geometric Characterizations for Patterson-Sullivan Measures of Geometrically Finite Kleinian Groups

The main results of this thesis show that a Patterson-Sullivan measure of a non-elementary geometrically finite Kleinian group can always be characterized using geometric covering and packing constructions. This means that if the standard covering and packing constructions are modified in a suitable way, one can use either one of them to construct a geometric measure which is identical to the Patterson-Sullivan measure. The main results generalize and modify results of D. Sullivan which show that one can sometimes use the standard covering construction to construct a suitable geometric measure and sometimes the standard packing construction. Sullivan has shown also that neither or both of the standard constructions can be used to construct the geometric measure in some situations. The main modifications of the standard constructions are based on certain geometric properties of limit sets of Kleinian groups studied first by P. Tukia. These geometric properties describe how closely the limit set of a given Kleinian group resembles euclidean planes or spheres of varying dimension on small scales. The main idea is to express these geometric properties in a quantitative form which can be incorporated into the gauge functions used in the modified covering and packing constructions. Certain estimation results for general conformal measures of Kleinian groups play a crucial role in the proofs of the main results. These estimation results are generalizations and modifications of similar results considered, among others, by B. Stratmann, D. Sullivan, P. Tukia and S. Velani. The modified constructions are in general defined without reference to Kleinian groups, so they or their variants may prove useful in some other contexts in addition to that of Kleinian groups.