There is a large variability in profitability and productivity between farms operating with automatic milking systems (AMS). The objectives of this study were to identify the physical factors ...associated with profitability and productivity of pasture-based AMS and quantify how changes in these factors would affect farm productivity. We utilised two different datasets collected between 2015 and 2019 with information from commercial pasture-based AMS farms. One contained annual physical and economic data from 14 AMS farms located in the main Australian dairy regions; the other contained monthly, detailed robot-system performance data from 23 AMS farms located across Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and Chile. We used linear mixed models to identify the physical factors associated with different profitability (Model 1) and partial productivity measures (Model 2). Additionally, we conducted a Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate how changes in the physical factors would affect productivity. Our results from Model 1 showed that the two main factors associated with profitability in pasture-based AMS were milk harvested/robot (MH; kg milk/robot per day) and total labour on-farm (full-time equivalent). On average, Model 1 explained 69% of the variance in profitability. In turn, Model 2 showed that the main factors associated with MH were cows/robot, milk flow, milking frequency, milking time, and days in milk. Model 2 explained 90% of the variance in MH. The Monte Carlo simulation showed that if pasture-based AMS farms manage to increase the number of cows/robot from 54 (current average) to ∼ 70 (the average of the 25% highest performing farms), the probability of achieving high MH, and therefore profitability, would increase from 23% to 63%. This could make AMS more attractive for pasture-based systems and increase the rate of adoption of the technology.
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•First decision-support system developed for pasture-based automatic milking systems.•Uses data from 37 farms across Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina.•Differences ...between actual and predicted physical performance ranged from 2 to 14%.•Farmers agreed that the decision-support system is useful and easy to use.•Applications include investment planning and system performance optimisation.
There is a significant opportunity to improve profitability and productivity in pasture-based automatic milking systems (AMS). A decision-support system (DSS) is required for AMS that can integrate key mechanics of dynamic biological processes with farm economics. Here we developed and evaluated a web-based DSS named the Integrated Management Model (IMM) designed for assisting AMS farmers and their advisors to evaluate and improve the physical and economic performance of their businesses (https://bit.ly/MilkingEdgeAMSTool). The IMM comprises a series of empirically determined predictive equations derived from the main drivers of productivity and profitability in AMS, together with stochastic simulation and optimisation modelling. The equations and models in the IMM were developed using two data sources available through the Milking Edge project: (a) an annual physical and economic dataset collected from 14 AMS farms across Australia (from years 2015 to 2018), and (b) a monthly physical dataset from 23 AMS farms located across Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and Chile (years 2015 to 2019). Model predictions were evaluated using two similar datasets: (a) an annual physical and economic dataset from 11 Australian AMS farms (2018 to 2020) and a monthly physical dataset from 20 AMS from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Argentina (2019 to 2020). The DSS was tested by 11 AMS farmers that provided feedback using the technology acceptance model framework. Results from the model evaluation showed the accuracy of the equations and simulations to predict physical variables such as milk harvested (kg milk/robot.d) or milking frequency (milkings/cow.d) was reasonably good (2–14% differences between observed and predicted values). The economic equations, which predicted operating profit margin (OP) (%) and return on total assets (ROTA) (%), could determine the relative changes and direction of profitability when physical variables change. However, the accuracy of these equations to estimate absolute values was low (ROTA: R2 0.26 and MAE 2.0%; OP: R2 0.36 and MAE 13.5%), probably due to the empirical nature of the equations and the relatively small number of farms involved in their development. Overall, farmers agreed that the IMM was a useful and easy-to-use DSS that can be used confidently to simulate physical scenarios and optimise the system performance. Whilst this DSS was designed for AMS farmers and farmers considering investing in AMS, future applications could include research, training, extension, teaching, consultancy or even innovation and development of new technology.
Automatic milking systems (AMS) have the potential to increase dairy farm productivity and profitability; however, adoption rates, particularly in pasture-based systems, have been lower than ...expected. The objectives of this study were to compare the physical and economic performance of pasture-based AMS with conventional milking systems (CMS) and to identify gaps for improving AMS productivity and profitability. We used data from 14 AMS and 100 CMS located in the main Australian dairy regions and collected over 3 yr (2015–2016, 2016–2017, 2017–2018). Farms within similar regions and herd sizes were compared. Results showed that all the main physical performance indicators evaluated such as milk production per cow, milk production per hectare, pasture grazed per hectare, or milk solids per full-time equivalent were similar between systems. The AMS farms had higher overhead costs such as depreciation and repairs and maintenance; however, no differences in total labor costs were observed between systems. Profitability, measured as earnings before interest and tax, operating profit margin, and return on total assets, was not significantly different between AMS and CMS. Opportunities for improving pasture utilization, labor efficiency, and robot utilization in AMS farms were identified. Improving efficiency in these areas could improve productivity and profitability of these systems, and therefore increase the interest of this technology.
Objective
To determine if higher‐volume, fixed‐dose administration of vasopressin further reduces blood loss at the time of minimally invasive myomectomy.
Design
Randomised multicentre clinical ...trial.
Setting
Tertiary‐care academic centres in the USA.
Population
Women undergoing conventional laparoscopic or robot‐assisted laparoscopic myomectomy.
Methods
All participants received the same 10‐unit (U) dose of vasopressin, but were randomly assigned to one of two groups: (i) received 200 ml of diluted vasopressin solution (20 U in 400 ml normal saline), and (ii) received 30 ml of concentrated vasopressin solution (20 U in 60 ml normal saline).
Main outcome measures
The primary study outcome was estimated blood loss; the study was powered to detect a 100‐ml difference.
Results
A total of 152 women were randomised; 76 patients in each group. Baseline demographics were similar between groups. The primary outcome of intraoperative blood loss was not significantly different, as measured by three parameters: surgeon estimate (mean estimated blood loss 178 ± 265 ml and 198 ± 232 ml, dilute and concentrated groups respectively, P = 0.65), suction canister‐calculated blood loss, or change in haematocrit levels. There were no vasopressin‐related adverse events.
Conclusion
Both dilute and concentrated vasopressin solutions that use the same drug dosing demonstrate comparable safety and tolerability when administered for minimally invasive myomectomy; however, higher volume administration of vasopressin does not reduce blood loss.
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This randomised trial failed to show benefit of high‐volume dilute vasopression.
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This randomised trial failed to show benefit of high‐volume dilute vasopression.
In recent years, an important number of studies have emphasized the psychopharmacological actions of cycloleucine (1-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid) acting on the NR1 subunit (glycine allosteric ...site) of NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartic acid) receptor. We studied the effects of its injection in an anxiety test.
The elevated plus maze test was used. Male rats bilaterally cannulated into the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS) were employed. Rats were divided into 5 groups that received either 1 µL injections of saline or cycloleucine (0.5, 1, 2, or 4 µg) 15 min before testing.
Time spent in the open arm was significantly increased by cycloleucine treatment with all doses (1 and 2 µg, p < 0.05; 0.5 and 4 µg, p < 0.01), like number of extreme arrivals (0.5 and 1 µg, p < 0.05; 2 µg, p < 0.01; and 4 µg, p < 0.001). Open arm entries were increased by the highest dose only (4 µg, p < 0.01).
Present results show no difference between all doses in the time spent in the open arm, suggesting an indirect, noncompetitive action of the drug. The increase in extreme arrivals and open arm entries suggests a dose influence in these parameters. We conclude that cycloleucine influence on the NMDA receptors within NAS leads to anxiolytic-like effects and behavioral disinhibition, which once more confirms the involvement of NAS in anxiety processing.
Abstract
Background:
In previous studies, we have observed that specific
N
-methyl-
d
-aspartic acid (NMDA) antagonists and non-NMDA antagonists injected within the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS) ...induced an anxiolytic-like effect in the plus maze test in rats. In the present study, the effect of intracanalicular blockade of NMDA receptors using dizocilpine in the plus maze was studied in male rats bilaterally cannulated NAS.
Methods:
Rats were divided into five groups that received either 1 μL injections of saline or dizocilpine (MK-801, 5R,10S-+-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo
a,d
cyclohepten-5,10-imine) in different doses (0.5, 1, 2, or 4 μg) 15 min before testing.
Results:
Time spent in the open arm increased under dizocilpine treatment with the two higher doses (2 and 4 μg, p<0.05), extreme arrivals were increased by the three higher doses (1 μg, p<0.05; 2 and 4 μg, p<0.01), and open arm entries by the three higher doses (1, 2, and 4 μg, p<0.05). A dose-effect relationship was observed in all cases.
Conclusions:
We conclude that dizocilpine-glutamatergic blockade in the accumbens lead to an anxiolytic-like effect and a behavioral disinhibition related to an increase in some motoric parameters, showing specific behavioral patterns.
(Abstracted from BJOG 2016; doi10.1111/1471-0528.14179)Leiomyomata are found in up to 80% of uteri examined at hysterectomy; symptoms are present in 20% to 50% of women. The preferred surgical ...procedure when uterine conservation is desired is myomectomy; when feasible, the laparoscopic approach is preferred.
Food allergy is most frequently the result of IgE-mediated hypersensitivity reactions. Here, we describe a chronic model in which some of the intestinal and systemic consequences of continuous egg ...white solution ingestion by ovalbumin-sensitized eight-week-old BALB/c mice, 6 animals per group, of both sexes, were investigated. There was a 20% loss of body weight that began one week after antigen exposure and persisted throughout the experiment (3 weeks). The sensitization procedure induced the production of anti-ovalbumin IgG1 and IgE, which were enhanced by oral antigen exposure (129% for IgG1 and 164% for IgE, compared to sensitization values). Intestinal changes were determined by jejunum edema at 6 h (45% Evans blue extravasation) and by a significant eosinophil infiltration with a peak at 48 h. By day 21 of continuous antigen exposure, histological findings were mild, with mast cell hyperplasia (100%) and increased mucus production (483%). Altogether, our data clearly demonstrate that, although immune stimulation was persistently occurring in response to continuous oral antigen exposure, regulatory mechanisms were occurring in the intestinal mucosa, preventing overt pathology. The experimental model described here reproduces the clinical and pathological changes of mild chronic food allergy and may be useful for mechanistic studies of this common clinical condition.
ABSTRACT
We explore the chemodynamical properties of a sample of barred galaxies in the Auriga magnetohydrodynamical cosmological zoom-in simulations, which form boxy/peanut (b/p) bulges, and compare ...these to the Milky Way (MW). We show that the Auriga galaxies which best reproduce the chemodynamical properties of stellar populations in the MW bulge have quiescent merger histories since redshift z ∼ 3.5: their last major merger occurs at $t_{\rm lookback}\gt 12\, \rm Gyr$, while subsequent mergers have a stellar mass ratio of ≤1:20, suggesting an upper limit of a few per cent for the mass ratio of the recently proposed Gaia Sausage/Enceladus merger. These Auriga MW-analogues have a negligible fraction of ex-situ stars in the b/p region ($\lt 1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$), with flattened, thick disc-like metal-poor stellar populations. The average fraction of ex-situ stars in the central regions of all Auriga galaxies with b/p’s is 3 per cent – significantly lower than in those which do not host a b/p or a bar. While the central regions of these barred galaxies contain the oldest populations, they also have stars younger than 5 Gyr (>30 per cent) and exhibit X-shaped age and abundance distributions. Examining the discs in our sample, we find that in some cases a star-forming ring forms around the bar, which alters the metallicity of the inner regions of the galaxy. Further out in the disc, bar-induced resonances lead to metal-rich ridges in the Vϕ − r plane – the longest of which is due to the Outer Lindblad Resonance. Our results suggest the Milky Way has an uncommonly quiet merger history, which leads to an essentially in-situ bulge, and highlight the significant effects the bar can have on the surrounding disc.
Upper limb amputation is a condition that significantly restricts the amputees from performing their daily activities. The myoelectric prosthesis, using signals from residual stump muscles, is aimed ...at restoring the function of such lost limbs seamlessly. Unfortunately, the acquisition and use of such myosignals are cumbersome and complicated. Furthermore, once acquired, it usually requires heavy computational power to turn it into a user control signal. Its transition to a practical prosthesis solution is still being challenged by various factors particularly those related to the fact that each amputee has different mobility, muscle contraction forces, limb positional variations and electrode placements. Thus, a solution that can adapt or otherwise tailor itself to each individual is required for maximum utility across amputees. Modified machine learning schemes for pattern recognition have the potential to significantly reduce the factors (movement of users and contraction of the muscle) affecting the traditional electromyography (EMG)-pattern recognition methods. Although recent developments of intelligent pattern recognition techniques could discriminate multiple degrees of freedom with high-level accuracy, their efficiency level was less accessible and revealed in real-world (amputee) applications. This review paper examined the suitability of upper limb prosthesis (ULP) inventions in the healthcare sector from their technical control perspective. More focus was given to the review of real-world applications and the use of pattern recognition control on amputees. We first reviewed the overall structure of pattern recognition schemes for myo-control prosthetic systems and then discussed their real-time use on amputee upper limbs. Finally, we concluded the paper with a discussion of the existing challenges and future research recommendations.
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