The effectiveness of mixed-model smoothing for prediction of lactation yields

1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 ◽  
pp. 10-10
Author(s):  
J.A. Woolliams ◽  
D. Waddington

The accurate prediction of lactation yield for a dairy cow has been a long standing goal for improving management. Historically the approach has been to assume that yield as a function of time follows a lactation curve which can be assigned a form that applies to all cows, and that cows differ in the parameters of this common curve. This has led to a plethora of forms being suggested for this common curve, of which perhaps the most well-known is that of Wood(1967). The biggest problem with this approach is the assumption that all cows and all management systems combine to produce individual lactations described by a single form of ‘lactation curve’. A novel approach using mixed-model smoothing was investigated in this study which: (i) fits a shape of lactation, assuming no specific parametric form , to daily yield records of a group of cows by using a patterned (co)variance matrix to describe deviations from a linear trend for time postpartum in a mixed model; and (ii) allows individual yields to be predicted using this ‘mean’ curve and the deviation of an individual's yield record from this mean.

1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 ◽  
pp. 10-10
Author(s):  
J.A. Woolliams ◽  
D. Waddington

The accurate prediction of lactation yield for a dairy cow has been a long standing goal for improving management. Historically the approach has been to assume that yield as a function of time follows a lactation curve which can be assigned a form that applies to all cows, and that cows differ in the parameters of this common curve. This has led to a plethora of forms being suggested for this common curve, of which perhaps the most well-known is that of Wood(1967). The biggest problem with this approach is the assumption that all cows and all management systems combine to produce individual lactations described by a single form of ‘lactation curve’. A novel approach using mixed-model smoothing was investigated in this study which: (i) fits a shape of lactation, assuming no specific parametric form , to daily yield records of a group of cows by using a patterned (co)variance matrix to describe deviations from a linear trend for time postpartum in a mixed model; and (ii) allows individual yields to be predicted using this ‘mean’ curve and the deviation of an individual's yield record from this mean.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 722
Author(s):  
Bethan Cavendish ◽  
John McDonagh ◽  
Georgios Tzimiropoulos ◽  
Kimberley R. Slinger ◽  
Zoë J. Huggett ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to characterize calving behavior of dairy cows and to compare the duration and frequency of behaviors for assisted and unassisted dairy cows at calving. Behavioral data from nine hours prior to calving were collected for 35 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Cows were continuously monitored under 24 h video surveillance. The behaviors of standing, lying, walking, shuffle, eating, drinking and contractions were recorded for each cow until birth. A generalized linear mixed model was used to assess differences in the duration and frequency of behaviors prior to calving for assisted and unassisted cows. The nine hours prior to calving was assessed in three-hour time periods. The study found that the cows spent a large proportion of their time either lying (0.49) or standing (0.35), with a higher frequency of standing (0.36) and shuffle (0.26) bouts than other behaviors during the study. There were no differences in behavior between assisted and unassisted cows. During the three-hours prior to calving, the duration and bouts of lying, including contractions, were higher than during other time periods. While changes in behavior failed to identify an association with calving assistance, the monitoring of behavioral patterns could be used as an alert to the progress of parturition.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Anshul Agarwal ◽  
Krithi Ramamritham

Buildings, viewed as cyber-physical systems, become smart by deploying Building Management Systems (BMS). They should be aware about the state and environment of the building. This is achieved by developing a sensing system that senses different interesting factors of the building, called as “facets of sensing.” Depending on the application, different facets need to be sensed at various locations. Existing approaches for sensing these facets consist of deploying sensors at all the places so they can be sensed directly. But installing numerous sensors often aggravate the issues of user inconvenience, cost of installation and maintenance, and generation of e-waste. This article proposes how intelligently using the existing information can help to estimate the facets in cyber-physical systems like buildings, thereby reducing the sensors to be deployed. In this article, an optimization framework has been developed, which optimally deploys sensors in a building such that it satisfies BMS requirements with minimum number of sensors. The proposed solution is applied to real-world scenarios with cyber-physical systems. The results indicate that the proposed optimization framework is able to reduce the number of sensors by 59% and 49% when compared to the baseline and heuristic approach, respectively.


1984 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Goodall ◽  
D. Sprevak

ABSTRACTBy studying the behaviour of the time series of the difference between the observed values of milk yield and the fitted lactation curve, a stochastic model for milk yield is derived. The model is used to improve the fit of the lactation curve, to forecast milk yield and to generate simulated values of milk yield.


1985 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Goodall ◽  
D. Sprevak

ABSTRACTA recursive procedure for the estimation of the lactation curve of a dairy cow, which allows the inclusion of prior information on the curve and which takes account of the correlation between successive observations, is described. The method is based on the Kalman filter. It was found to give accurate estimates of the total milk yield at early stages of lactation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison I Hilger ◽  
Torrey MJ Loucks ◽  
David Quinto-Pozos ◽  
Matthew WG Dye

A study was conducted to examine production variability in American Sign Language (ASL) in order to gain insight into the development of motor control in a language produced in another modality. Production variability was characterized through the spatiotemporal index (STI), which represents production stability in whole utterances and is a function of variability in effector displacement waveforms (Smith et al., 1995). Motion capture apparatus was used to acquire wrist displacement data across a set of eight target signs embedded in carrier phrases. The STI values of Deaf signers and hearing learners at three different ASL experience levels were compared to determine whether production stability varied as a function of time spent acquiring ASL. We hypothesized that lower production stability as indexed by the STI would be evident for beginning ASL learners, indicating greater production variability, with variability decreasing as ASL language experience increased. As predicted, Deaf signers showed significantly lower STI values than the hearing learners, suggesting that stability of production is indeed characteristic of increased ASL use. The linear trend across experience levels of hearing learners was not statistically significant in all spatial dimensions, indicating that improvement in production stability across relatively short time scales was weak. This novel approach to characterizing production stability in ASL utterances has relevance for the identification of sign production disorders and for assessing L2 acquisition of sign languages.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 216-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic approach to conduct a diagnosis of the current status of a company’s quality management systems (QMS) and business processes. Design/methodology/approach The approach proposed is based upon the assessment of the maturity level of a company’s QMS, for which a “maturity diagnostic instrument” is also proposed, a self-assessment exercise using a business excellence model and a first-party quality audit. Findings The integration of a QMS’ maturity assessment, a self-assessment exercise and a quality audit may provide a more thorough evaluation of various company’s systems and operations. This paper provides organisations, and their managers, with a systematic approach to help them understand better the current performance of their QMSs and business processes. Originality/value This paper’s main contribution consists in the proposal of a novel approach for organisation to measure and understand the status of their QMS and business processes. Subsequently, better management decisions to improve a company’s operations can be taken.


1986 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 471-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi HAYASHI ◽  
Yoshitaka NAGAMINE ◽  
Akira NISHIDA

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Rayne ◽  
Daniel Donoghue

We present a novel approach that uses remote sensing to record and reconstruct traces of ancient water management throughout the whole region of Northern Mesopotamia, an area where modern agriculture and warfare has had a severe impact on the survival of archaeological remains and their visibility in modern satellite imagery. However, analysis and interpretation of declassified stereoscopic spy satellite data from the 1960s and early 1970s revealed traces of ancient water management systems. We processed satellite imagery to facilitate image interpretation and used photogrammetry to reconstruct hydraulic pathways. Our results represent the first comprehensive map of water management features across the entirety of Northern Mesopotamia for the period ca. 1200 BC to AD 1500. In particular, this shows that irrigation was widespread throughout the region in the Early Islamic period, including within the zone traditionally regarded as “rain-fed”. However, we found that a high proportion of the ancient canal systems had been damaged or destroyed by 20th century changes to agricultural practices and land use. Given this, there is an urgent need to record these rapidly vanishing water management systems that were an integral part of the ancient agricultural landscape and that underpinned powerful states.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document