Evaluation of the productive qualities of donor cows and cow’s families by transmission capacity

Purpose: To assess the productive qualities of donor cows, taking into account the transmitting capacity of their families. To study the possibility of using this criterion to predict the breeding qualities of descendants.Materials and methods. The assessment of the transmitting ability of animals was carried out according to the System for assessing the breeding qualities of dairy cattle by transmitting ability (2010). A genealogical database of first-calf heifers in herd «Petrovsky» (more than 9500 heads) has been formed. The estimation of the transmitting capacity of productive traits of 111 families, to which 132 cows from the donor herd belonged, was carried out.Results. It was found that 44 donors belonged to the «best» families in terms of milk yield and 348 embryos were frozen from them. From 31 donors from the «worst» families in terms of milk yield, 199 embryos were frozen. Linear profiles of families were compiled according to the characteristics of their transmitting capacity for five indicators of milk productivity. It is shown that the probability that the descendants of cows from the «worst» families in terms of transmitting ability will have high rates for the trait we are interested in is approximately 18–20%. In families of the «best» category, this probability is 45% or more.Conclusion. Evaluation of productive traits in terms of transmitting capacity is an important additional criterion when choosing the most valuable cows as embryo’s donor. Compilation of linear profiles of families allows you to obtain objective information about their breeding value in relation to productive traits.

Monitoring fuzzy linear quality profiles: A comparative study

Quality profiles representing the quality of a process or product as the functional relationship between one or more dependent variables and one or more explanatory variables are nowadays widely recognized in statistical process control (SPC) applications by both researchers and practitioners. On the other hand, in many real-world cases, evaluation of process or product characteristics is carried out with ambiguity or conducted using linguistic values. The theory of fuzzy sets provides an appropriate approach to deal with uncertainty due to ambiguity in human subjective evaluations or vagueness in linguistic variables. The purpose of this study is to introduce two novel methods based on fuzzy regression modeling for monitoring fuzzy linear profiles in phase II of SPC. To accomplish this, fuzzified Hoteling’s T2 statistic and fuzzy hypothesis testing are used. Moreover, a simulation study is used to compare the performance of the proposed methods compared with previous methods, based on the average run length (ARL) criterion in order to assess the detectability of charts with regard to the step shifts in profile parameters. Finally, the results of a real-world example in the tile and ceramic industry are presented.

Novel Approach to Tooth Chemistry: Quantification of Human Enamel Apatite in Context for New Biomaterials and Nanomaterials Development

A series of linear profiles of the elements of the enamel in human molar teeth were made with the use of an electron microprobe and a Raman microscope. It is postulated that the enamel can be treated as the superposition of variable “overbuilt” enamel on the stable “core” enamel at the macro-, micro- and nanoscale level. The excessive values characterize the “overbuilt enamel”. All the profiles of excessive parameters along the enamel thickness from the enamel surface to the dentin enamel junction (DEJ) can be approximated very precisely with the use of exponential functions, where Ca, P, Cl and F spatial profiles are decaying while Mg, Na, K and CO32− ones are growing distributions. The “overbuilt” apatite formed on the boundary with DEJ, enriched in Na, Mg, OH and carbonates, reacts continuously with Ca, Cl and F, passing into an acid-resistant form of the “overbuilt” enamel. The apparent phases arriving in boundary regions of the “overbuilt enamel” were proposed. Microdiffraction measurements reveal relative variation of energy levels during enamel transformations. Our investigations are the milestones for a further new class of biomaterial and nanomaterial development for biomedical applications.