Use of Extended Characteristics of Locomotion and Feeding Behavior for Automated Identification of Lame Dairy Cows.

This study was carried out to detect differences in locomotion and feeding behavior in lame (group L; n = 41; gait score ≥ 2.5) and non-lame (group C; n = 12; gait score ≤ 2) multiparous Holstein cows in a cross-sectional study design. A model for automatic lameness detection was created, using data from accelerometers attached to the hind limbs and noseband sensors attached to the head. Each cow's gait was videotaped and scored on a 5-point scale before and after a period of 3 consecutive days of behavioral data recording. The mean value of 3 independent experienced observers was taken as a definite gait score and considered to be the gold standard. For statistical analysis, data from the noseband sensor and one of two accelerometers per cow (randomly selected) of 2 out of 3 randomly selected days was used. For comparison between group L and group C, the T-test, the Aspin-Welch Test and the Wilcoxon Test were used. The sensitivity and specificity for lameness detection was determined with logistic regression and ROC-analysis. Group L compared to group C had significantly lower eating and ruminating time, fewer eating chews, ruminating chews and ruminating boluses, longer lying time and lying bout duration, lower standing time, fewer standing and walking bouts, fewer, slower and shorter strides and a lower walking speed. The model considering the number of standing bouts and walking speed was the best predictor of cows being lame with a sensitivity of 90.2% and specificity of 91.7%. Sensitivity and specificity of the lameness detection model were considered to be very high, even without the use of halter data. It was concluded that under the conditions of the study farm, accelerometer data were suitable for accurately distinguishing between lame and non-lame dairy cows, even in cases of slight lameness with a gait score of 2.5.

Quaternary refugia of the sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.): an extended palynological approach

Knowledge about the glacial refugia of the thermophilous European Castanea sativa Mill. (sweet chestnut) is still inadequate. Its original range of distribution has been masked by strong human impact. Moreover, under natural conditions the species was probably admixed with other taxa (such as Quercus, Fraxinus, Fagus, Tilia) and thus possibly represented by low percentages in pollen records. In this paper we try to overcome the difficulties related to the scarcity and irregularity of chestnut pollen records by considering 1471 sites and extending the palynological approach to develop a Castanea refugium probability index (IRP), aimed at detecting possible chestnut refugia where chestnuts survived during the last glaciation. The results are in close agreement with the current literature on the refugia of other thermophilous European trees. The few divergences are most probably due to the large amount of new data integrated in this study, rather than to fundamental disagreements about data and data interpretation. The main chestnut refugia are located in the Transcaucasian region, north-western Anatolia, the hinterland of the Tyrrhenian coast from Liguria to Lazio along the Apennine range, the region around Lago di Monticchio (Monte Vulture) in southern Italy, and the Cantabrian coast on the Iberian peninsula. Despite the high likelihood of Castanea refugia in the Balkan Peninsula and north-eastern Italy (Colli Euganei, Monti Berici, Emilia-Romagna) as suggested by the IRP, additional palaeobotanical investigations are needed to assess whether these regions effectively sheltered chestnut during the last glaciation. Other regions, such as the Isère Département in France, the region across north-west Portugal and Galicia, and the hilly region along the Mediterranean coast of Syria and Lebanon were classified as areas of medium refugium probability. Our results reveal an unexpected spatial richness of potential Castanea refugia. It is likely that other European trees had similar distribution ranges during the last glaciation. It is thus conceivable that shelter zones with favourable microclimates were probably more numerous and more widely dispersed across Europe than so far assumed. In the future, more attention should be paid to pollen traces of sporadic taxa thought to have disappeared from a given area during the last glacial and post-glacial period.

International Coffee Agreement 1968, as extended : report to accompany Ex. O, 93-1 /

At head of title: 93d Congress, 1st session, Senate, Executive report ; no. 93-16.

Driving performance after an extended period of travel in an automated highway system.

Federal Highway Administration, Office of Safety and Traffic Operations, Washington, D.C.

International Conference on the Physics of X-Ray Spectra program and extended abstracts.

Mode of access: Internet.

Medical Advisory Committee report and recommendations on the administration of the OASI disability freeze provision : preservation of rights of individuals with extended total disability, Social security amendments of l954.

"July 1955."

Evaluation of an extended aeration process for Skokomish salmon processing wastewater treatment /

Mode of access: Internet.

An Evaluation of the feasibility of a substate area extended benefit program : final report.

"This report was prepared for the Unemployment Insurance Service, U.S. Department of Labor under Contract Number 99-7-0805-04-138-01 with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. The authors of this report are John L. Czajka, Sharon K. Long and Walter Nicholson ..."

The Hennepin canal. Shall the great northern and eastern water way be extended to the upper Mississippi? Speech ... in the House of representatives ...

Mode of access: Internet.

An extended syntax-directed translation scheme /

Bibliography: p. 36.

Designing extended entry decision tables and optimal decision trees using decision diagrams /

Bibliography: p. 52-53.

An atmospheric diffusion nomogram with extended parameter ranges /

"February 15, 1956."

Water purifications for the practical man; a handbook of laboratory practice in the water works plant, prepared particularly for the man who has not had the advantages of extended training in chemistry and bacteriology.

"The material incorporated in this book originally appeared as a series of articles in Water works engineering."--Pref.

Extended hypervelocity gas dynamic charts for equilibrium air.

"Prepared for the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, Headquarters Air Research and Development Command, under Contract AF (04(647)-309, Magnetoaerodynamic Research."

Pharmacologia being an extended inquiry into the operations of medicinal bodies... : the therory and aart of prescribing /

Mode of access: Internet.