• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.1741-1754
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• 2020

Objective: This study was conducted to estimate genetic parameters for milk yield traits using daily milk yield records from parlour data generated in an intensively managed commercial dairy farm with Jersey and Jersey-Friesian cows in Sri Lanka. Methods: Genetic parameters were estimated for first and second lactation predicted and realized 305-day milk yield using univariate animal models. Genetic parameters were also estimated for total milk yield for each 30-day intervals of the first lactation using univariate animal models and for daily milk yield using random regression models fitting second-order Legendre polynomials and assuming heterogeneous residual variances. Breeding values for predicted 305-day milk yield were estimated using an animal model. Results: For the first lactation, the heritability of predicted 305-day milk yield in Jersey cows (0.08±0.03) was higher than that of Jersey-Friesian cows (0.02±0.01). The second lactation heritability estimates were similar to that of first lactation. The repeatability of the daily milk records was 0.28±0.01 and the heritability ranged from 0.002±0.05 to 0.19±0.02 depending on day of milk. Pearson product-moment correlations between the bull estimated breeding values (EBVs) in Australia and bull EBVs in Sri Lanka for 305-day milk yield were 0.39 in Jersey cows and -0.35 in Jersey-Friesian cows. Conclusion: The heritabilities estimated for milk yield in Jersey and Jersey-Friesian cows in Sri Lanka were low, and were associated with low additive genetic variances for the traits. Sire differences in Australia were not expressed in the tropical low-country of Sri Lanka. Therefore, genetic progress achieved by importing genetic material from Australia can be expected to be slow. This emphasizes the need for a within-country evaluation of bulls to produce locally adapted dairy cows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.677-681
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• 1999

Estimates were made of genetic parameters for average daily gain (ADG) and average backfat thickness (ABF), and of the effect of sex on estimates of variance-covariance components for average daily gain of boars (DGM) and gilts (DGF) and average bacfat thickness of boars (BFM) and gilts (BFF) by residual maximum likelihood (REML) under a bivariate animal model. Data included a total of 2233 records (757 for boars and 1476 for gilts) of the Large White breed born between 1981 and 1986 in Miyazaki and Iwate prefectures in Japan. Heritability estimates for ADG and ABF were 0.43 and 0.69, respectively, with a genetic correlation of -0.08. Heritability estimates for DGM and DGF were 0.54 and 0.46, respectively, with a genetic correlation of 0.79, including that the two traits are influenced by similar but not identical genes. Respective estimates for BFM and BFF were 0.71 and 0.72 with a genetic correlation of 0.95, indicating that identical genes influence backfat thickness in boars and gilts.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.123-128
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• 2006

Enzymatic deinking method can avoids the alkaline environment as usual required in chemical deinking, which consequently cuts chemical costs and reduced the white water pollution. The electrostatic wastepaper was dinked with commercial cellulolytic enzymes and surfactant in neutral pH and the effectiveness of deinking and the physical properties of deinked pulp were evaluated. The disintegrating efficiency of the electrostatic wastepaper in neutral pH was enhanced with enzyme treatments. Although the freeness of deinked pulp with enzymes was higher than that of deinked pulp with chemical deinking agents, the brightness of the enzymatic deinked pulp was slightly lower than that of the chemical deinked pulp. But, by additions of nonionic surfactants, the brightness of deinked pulp was increased with less residual ink particles and mechanical properties of enzymatic deinked pulp was improved compared to the deinked pulp of conventional alkaline method.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.75-78
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• 1997

Season is very important as it defines the contemporaries for sire and cow evaluation. An attempt is made for defining season for animal model evaluation of Sahiwal animals, using 1,227 records from 730 cows. Cows were required to have a lactation length of 305-days. Ten different combinations of months for two, four, five or other seasons were tried. The other fixed effect in the model was age defined within parity. The random effects were permanent environment and animal's breeeding value along with the residual effects. A single trait animal model was used where all known relationships of an animal were incorporated in a relationship matrix. The error variance from the fitted model decreased as the number of year-season combinations increased, indicating a month-year model to be more appropriate. This, on the other hand, decreased the number of contemporaries for certain subclasses to a minimum of one, making the bull comparisons invalid. Use of a two season scenario, with winter (November through February) and summer (March through October) was better than the other combinations in terms of error variance of the fitted model and the number of lactations represented in any year-season subclass.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2008

Functional hanji was manufactured using the bast fiber of Broussonetia kazinoki and various inorganic compounds such as kaolin, talc, elvan, and ocher, and the physical and optical properties were investigated. The residual percentages of kaolin, talc, elvan and ocher in the functional hanji were above 50%. The density of the hanji increased with the increase of the content of inorganic compounds. The hanji manufactured using ocher showed the highest density. The breaking length and burst factor decreased with the increase of inorganic materials, indicating that physical properties of hanji were not improved by adding inorganic materials. The emission rates of far-infrared radiation increased in the hanji manufactured using inorganic materials. The higher emission rates were observed in the hanji with elvan or ocher. Addition of inorganic compounds to hanji showed the flame retardative effect. The colorfastness to light of the hanji with elvan or ocher was the degree of 4, which explained by the characteristic color of the inorganics.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.635-642
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• 2018

Braced excavation systems are commonly required to ensure stability in construction of basements for shopping malls, underground transportation and other habitation facilities. For excavations in deposits of soft clays or residual soils, stiff retaining wall systems such as diaphragm walls are commonly adopted to restrain the ground movements and wall deflections in order to prevent damage to surrounding buildings and utilities. The ground surface settlement behind the excavation is closely associated with the magnitude of basal heave and the wall deflections and is also greatly influenced by the possible groundwater drawdown caused by potential wall leakage, flow from beneath the wall, flow from perched water and along the wall interface or poor panel connections due to the less satisfactory quality. This paper numerically investigates the influences of excavation geometries, the system stiffness, the soil properties and the groundwater drawdown on ground surface settlement and develops a simplified maximum surface settlement Logarithm Regression model for the maximum ground surface settlement estimation. The settlements estimated by this model compare favorably with a number of published and instrumented records.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2021

Ground motions recorded in near-fault sites, where the rupture propagates toward the site, are significantly different from those observed in far-fault regions. In this research, finite element modeling is used to investigate the effect of pile cap stiffness on the seismic response of soil-pile-structure systems under near-fault ground motions. The Von Wolffersdorff hypoplastic model with the intergranular strain concept is applied for modeling of granular soil (sand) and the behavior of structure is considered to be non-linear. Eight fault-normal near-field ground motion records, recorded on rock, are applied to the model. The numerical method developed is verified by comparing the results with an experimental test (shaking table test) for a soil-pile-structure system. The results, obtained from finite element modeling under near-fault ground motions, show that when the value of cap stiffness increases, the drift ratio of the structure decreases, whereas the pile relative displacement increases. Also, the residual deformations in the piles are due to the non-linear behavior of soil around the piles.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.133-144
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• 2001

An effective seismic reflection technique for mapping the cavities and bedrock surface in carbonate rocks is described. The high resolution seismic reflection images were successfully registered by using the hydrophones employed in the stream-water driven trench, and were effectively focused by applying optimal data processing sequences. The strategy included enhancement of the signal interfered with the large-amplitude scattering noise, through pre- and post stack processing such as time-variant filtering, bad-trace editing, residual statics, velocity analysis, and careful muting after NMO (normal moveout) correction. The major reflections including the bedrock surface were mapped with the desired resolution and were correlated to the seismic crosshole tomographic data. Shallow major reflectors could be identified and analyzed on the AGC (auto gain control)-applied field records. Three subhorizontal layers were identified with their distinct velocities; overburden (<3000 m/s), sediments (3000-4000 m/s), limestone bedrock (>4000 m/s). Taking into account of no diffraction effects in the field records, gravel-rich overburdens and sediments are considered to be well sorted. Based on the images mapped consistently on the whole survey line and seismic velocity increasing with depth, this area probably lacks in sizable cavities (if any, no air-filled cavities).

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1499-1511
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• 2022

Objective: This study was aimed to estimate the genetic parameters, including genetic and phenotypic correlations, of milk yield, lactation curve traits and milk composition of Thai dairy cattle from three government research farms. Methods: The data of 25,789 test-day milk yield and milk composition records of 1,468 cattle from lactation 1 to 3 of Holstein Friesian (HF) and crossbred HF dairy cattle calved between 1990 and 2015 from three government research farms in Thailand were analysed. 305-day milk yield was estimated by the Wood model and a test interval method. The Wood model was used for estimating cumulative 305-day milk yield, peak milk yield, days to peak milk yield and persistency. Genetic parameters were estimated using linear mixed models with herd, breed group, year and season of calving as fixed effects, and animals linked to a pedigree as random effects, together with a residual error. Univariate models were used to estimate variance components, heritability, estimated breeding values (EBVs) and repeatability of each trait, while pairwise bivariate models were used to estimate covariance components and correlations between traits in the same lactation and in the same trait across lactations. Results: The heritability of 305-day milk yield, peak milk yield and protein percentage have moderate to high estimates ranging from 0.19 to 0.45 while days to peak milk yield, persistency and fat percentage have low heritability ranging from 0.08 to 0.14 in lactation 1 cows. Further, heritability of most traits considered was higher in lactation 1 compared with lactations 2 and 3. For cows in lactation 1, high genetic correlations were found between 305-day milk yield and peak milk yield (0.86±0.07) and days to peak milk yield and persistency (0.99±0.02) while estimates of genetic correlations between the remaining traits were imprecise due to the high standard errors. The genetic correlations within the traits across lactation were high. There was no consistent trend of EBVs for most traits in the first lactation over the study period. Conclusion: Both the Wood model and test interval method can be used for milk yield estimates in these herds. However, the Wood model has advantages over the test interval method as it can be fitted using fewer test-day records and the estimated model parameters can be used to derive estimates of other lactation curve parameters. Milk yield, peak milk yield and protein percentage can be improved by a selection and mating program while days to peak milk yield, persistency and fat percentage can be improved by including into a selection index.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.173-183
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• 2024

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether the methane (CH₄) to carbon dioxide (CO₂) ratio (CH₄/CO₂) and methane-related traits obtained by the sniffer method can be used as indicators for genetic selection of Holstein cows with lower CH₄ emissions. Methods: The sniffer method was used to simultaneously measure the concentrations of CH₄ and CO₂ during milking in each milking box of the automatic milking system to obtain CH₄/CO₂. Methane-related traits, which included CH₄ emissions, CH₄ per energy-corrected milk, methane conversion factor (MCF), and residual CH₄, were calculated. First, we investigated the impact of the model with and without body weight (BW) on the lactation stage and parity for predicting methane-related traits using a first on-farm dataset (Farm 1; 400 records for 74 Holstein cows). Second, we estimated the genetic parameters for CH₄/CO₂ and methane-related traits using a second on-farm dataset (Farm 2; 520 records for 182 Holstein cows). Third, we compared the repeatability and environmental effects on these traits in both farm datasets. Results: The data from Farm 1 revealed that MCF can be reliably evaluated during the lactation stage and parity, even when BW is excluded from the model. Farm 2 data revealed low heritability and moderate repeatability for CH₄/CO₂ (0.12 and 0.46, respectively) and MCF (0.13 and 0.38, respectively). In addition, the estimated genetic correlation of milk yield with CH₄/CO₂ was low (0.07) and that with MCF was moderate (-0.53). The on-farm data indicated that CH₄/CO₂ and MCF could be evaluated consistently during the lactation stage and parity with moderate repeatability on both farms. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the on-farm applicability of the sniffer method for selecting cows with low CH₄ emissions.