Automatic Lameness Detection in a Milking Robot : Instrumentation, measurement software, algorithms for data analysis and a neural network model

The aim of this thesis is to develop a fully automatic lameness detection system that operates in a milking robot. The instrumentation, measurement software, algorithms for data analysis and a neural network model for lameness detection were developed. Automatic milking has become a common practice in dairy husbandry, and in the year 2006 about 4000 farms worldwide used over 6000 milking robots. There is a worldwide movement with the objective of fully automating every process from feeding to milking. Increase in automation is a consequence of increasing farm sizes, the demand for more efficient production and the growth of labour costs. As the level of automation increases, the time that the cattle keeper uses for monitoring animals often decreases. This has created a need for systems for automatically monitoring the health of farm animals. The popularity of milking robots also offers a new and unique possibility to monitor animals in a single confined space up to four times daily. Lameness is a crucial welfare issue in the modern dairy industry. Limb disorders cause serious welfare, health and economic problems especially in loose housing of cattle. Lameness causes losses in milk production and leads to early culling of animals. These costs could be reduced with early identification and treatment. At present, only a few methods for automatically detecting lameness have been developed, and the most common methods used for lameness detection and assessment are various visual locomotion scoring systems. The problem with locomotion scoring is that it needs experience to be conducted properly, it is labour intensive as an on-farm method and the results are subjective. A four balance system for measuring the leg load distribution of dairy cows during milking in order to detect lameness was developed and set up in the University of Helsinki Research farm Suitia. The leg weights of 73 cows were successfully recorded during almost 10,000 robotic milkings over a period of 5 months. The cows were locomotion scored weekly, and the lame cows were inspected clinically for hoof lesions. Unsuccessful measurements, caused by cows standing outside the balances, were removed from the data with a special algorithm, and the mean leg loads and the number of kicks during milking was calculated. In order to develop an expert system to automatically detect lameness cases, a model was needed. A probabilistic neural network (PNN) classifier model was chosen for the task. The data was divided in two parts and 5,074 measurements from 37 cows were used to train the model. The operation of the model was evaluated for its ability to detect lameness in the validating dataset, which had 4,868 measurements from 36 cows. The model was able to classify 96% of the measurements correctly as sound or lame cows, and 100% of the lameness cases in the validation data were identified. The number of measurements causing false alarms was 1.1%. The developed model has the potential to be used for on-farm decision support and can be used in a real-time lameness monitoring system.

Genetic variability in high temperature effects on seed-set in sorghum

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is grown as a dryland crop in semiarid subtropical and tropical environments where it is often exposed to high temperatures around flowering. Projected climate change is likely to increase the incidence of exposure to high temperature, with potential adverse effects on growth, development and grain yield. The objectives of this study were to explore genetic variability for the effects of high temperature on crop growth and development, in vitro pollen germination and seed-set. Eighteen diverse sorghum genotypes were grown at day : night temperatures of 32 : 21 degrees C (optimum temperature, OT) and 38 : 21 degrees C (high temperature, HT during the middle of the day) in controlled environment chambers. HT significantly accelerated development, and reduced plant height and individual leaf size. However, there was no consistent effect on leaf area per plant. HT significantly reduced pollen germination and seed-set percentage of all genotypes; under HT, genotypes differed significantly in pollen viability percentage (17-63%) and seed-set percentage (7-65%). The two traits were strongly and positively associated (R-2 = 0.93, n = 36, P < 0.001), suggesting a causal association. The observed genetic variation in pollen and seed-set traits should be able to be exploited through breeding to develop heat-tolerant varieties for future climates.

Systematic review of the psychological consequences of false-positive screening mammograms

- Background In the UK, women aged 50–73 years are invited for screening by mammography every 3 years. In 2009–10, more than 2.24 million women in this age group in England were invited to take part in the programme, of whom 73% attended a screening clinic. Of these, 64,104 women were recalled for assessment. Of those recalled, 81% did not have breast cancer; these women are described as having a false-positive mammogram. - Objective The aim of this systematic review was to identify the psychological impact on women of false-positive screening mammograms and any evidence for the effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce this impact. We were also looking for evidence of effects in subgroups of women. - Data sources MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, EMBASE, Health Management Information Consortium, Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, CRD Health Technology Assessment (HTA), Cochrane Methodology, Web of Science, Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science, Conference Proceeding Citation Index-Social Science and Humanities, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Sociological Abstracts, the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents and others. Initial searches were carried out between 8 October 2010 and 25 January 2011. Update searches were carried out on 26 October 2011 and 23 March 2012. - Review methods Based on the inclusion criteria, titles and abstracts were screened independently by two reviewers. Retrieved papers were reviewed and selected using the same independent process. Data were extracted by one reviewer and checked by another. Each included study was assessed for risk of bias. - Results Eleven studies were found from 4423 titles and abstracts. Studies that used disease-specific measures found a negative psychological impact lasting up to 3 years. Distress increased with the level of invasiveness of the assessment procedure. Studies using instruments designed to detect clinical levels of morbidity did not find this effect. Women with false-positive mammograms were less likely to return for the next round of screening [relative risk (RR) 0.97; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.96 to 0.98] than those with normal mammograms, were more likely to have interval cancer [odds ratio (OR) 3.19 (95% CI 2.34 to 4.35)] and were more likely to have cancer detected at the next screening round [OR 2.15 (95% CI 1.55 to 2.98)]. - Limitations This study was limited to UK research and by the robustness of the included studies, which frequently failed to report quality indicators, for example failure to consider the risk of bias or confounding, or failure to report participants' demographic characteristics. - Conclusions We conclude that the experience of having a false-positive screening mammogram can cause breast cancer-specific psychological distress that may endure for up to 3 years, and reduce the likelihood that women will return for their next round of mammography screening. These results should be treated cautiously owing to inherent weakness of observational designs and weaknesses in reporting. Future research should include a qualitative interview study and observational studies that compare generic and disease-specific measures, collect demographic data and include women from different social and ethnic groups.

Psychological consequences of false-positive screening mammograms in the UK

- Objectives To identify the psychological effects of false-positive screening mammograms in the UK. - Methods Systematic review of all controlled studies and qualitative studies of women with a false-positive screening mammogram. The control group participants had normal mammograms. All psychological outcomes including returning for routine screening were permitted. All studies had a narrative synthesis. - Results The searches returned seven includable studies (7/4423). Heterogeneity was such that meta-analysis was not possible. Studies using disease-specific measures found that, compared to normal results, there could be enduring psychological distress that lasted up to 3 years; the level of distress was related to the degree of invasiveness of the assessment. At 3 years the relative risks were, further mammography, 1.28 (95% CI 0.82 to 2.00), fine needle aspiration 1.80 (95% CI 1.17 to 2.77), biopsy 2.07 (95% CI 1.22 to 3.52) and early recall 1.82 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.72). Studies that used generic measures of anxiety and depression found no such impact up to 3 months after screening. Evidence suggests that women with false-positive mammograms have an increased likelihood of failing to reattend for routine screening, relative risk 0.97 (95% CI 0.96 to 0.98) compared with women with normal mammograms. - Conclusions Having a false-positive screening mammogram can cause breast cancer-specific distress for up to 3 years. The degree of distress is related to the invasiveness of the assessment. Women with false-positive mammograms are less likely to return for routine assessment than those with normal ones.

Pidyon HaBen 5 Pieces Coin Set

5 Silver coin set in olive-wood box with certificates. Obverse: 25 Silver Lirot coin. In the lower part big emblem of the State of Israel. Reverse: Five pomegranate flowers round a five-pointed star.

David Ben-Gurion Commemorative Coin Set

3 pieces commemorative coin set in a box. 2 silver coins, 1 gold coin. Obverse: 25 Lirot silver coins, 500 Lirot gold coin. In the center the state emblem of the State of Israel. Reverse: Portrait of David Ben-Gurion.

Hanukkah Circulation Coin Set

5 Coin set. 1 Agora; 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel. All of the coins have Hanukkiyot on the obverse side.

Uncirculated Coin Set, 40th Anniversary of Israel

5 Coin Set: 1 Agora; 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel. All coins have on the obverse side written 40 Years of Israel. 1 Commemorative coin: Obverse: Menorah inside of number 40. Reverse: Design of a building.

Souvenir from the Lira Period Coin Set

7 coin set. 1 Agora; 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 25 Agorot; 1/2 Lira; 1 Lira; 5 Lirot. The motifs are inspired by ancient Hebrew coins which feature the seven species mentioned in the Bible and by vessels from the Temple of Jerusalem.

First Coin Set with 5 New Sheqalim Coin

6 coin set. 1 Agora; 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel; 5 New Sheqel. The motifs are inspired by ancient Hebrew coins and seals with biblical emblems, and by ornaments from the Holy Temple.

Israel's 41st Anniversary Coin Set, Piefort

5 coin set. 1 Agora; 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel. Piefort: coins are thicker.

Israel 39th Anniversary Coin Set, Piefort

5 coin set. 1 Agora; 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel.

Hanukka Israel Coin Set and Official Uncirculated Coin Set

10 coin set. Official Uncirculated coin set (5 coins): 1 Agora; 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel. Hanukka coin set (5 coins): 1 Agora; 5; Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel. All Hanukka coins have on the obverse side Hanukkiyot and word Hanukka.

Hanukka Circulation Coins Set

5 coin set: 5 Agorot; 10 Agorot; 1/2 New Sheqel; 1 New Sheqel; 5 New Sheqalim. All of the coins have on the obverse side Hanukkiyot and word Hanukka.

Israel Official Uncirculated Coins Set

8 coin set. 1 Sheqel; 5 Sheqalim; 10 Sheqalim; 2 times 50 Sheqalim-one with a portrait of David Ben-Gurion on the reverse side, one normal coin; 3 times 100 Sheqalim-one with a portrait of Ze'ev Jabotinsky on the reverse side, one with Hanukkah lamp on the obverse side, one normal plain coin.