Growth Curves Analysis of Five Meat Rabbit Breeds

The growth curves of five meat rabbit breeds are fitted in form of Gompertz model.The results are shown as follows:the goodness of fit is higher than 99 50%;considering the body weight at one hundred day?the maximum weight(A)?the instantaneous relative growth rate(K)?the turning weight(W )?the turning age (t )?the early average daily gain (KW ) selection,the Checkered Giant(GG) and the New Zealand White (NN) are better than other meat breeds,the slauthter age should be at the age of 90 day.

Male external genitalia growth curves and charts for children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 years in Chongqing, China

Genital size is a crucial index for the assessment of male sexual development, as abnormal penile or testicular size may be the earliest visible clinical manifestation of some diseases. However, there is a lack of data regarding penile and testicular size measurements for Chinese boys at all stages of childhood and puberty. This cross-sectional study aimed to develop appropriate growth curves and charts for male external genitalia among children and adolescents aged 0-17 years in Chongqing, China. A total of 2974 boys were enrolled in the present study. Penile length was measured using a rigid ruler, penile diameter was measured using a pachymeter, and testicular volume was determined using a Prader orchidometer. Age-specific percentile curves for penile length, penile diameter, and testicular volume were drawn using the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape. Very similar growth curves were found for both penile length and penile diameter. Both of them gradually rose to 10 years of age and then sharply increased from 11 to 15 years of age. However, testicular volume changed little before the age of 10 years. This study contributes to the literature covering age-specific growth curve and charts about male external genitalia in Chinese children and adolescents. These age-related values are valuable in evaluating the growth and development status of male external genitalia and could be helpful in diagnosing genital disorders.

Functional Multiple-Outcome Model in Application to Multivariate Growth Curves of Infant Data

Motivated by a medical study that attempts to analyze the relationship between growth curves and other variables and to measure the association among multiple growth curves,the authors develop a functional multiple-outcome model to decompose the total variation of multiple functional outcomes into variation explained by independent variables with time-varying coefficient functions,by latent factors and by noise.The latent factors are the hidden common factors that influence the multiple outcomes and are found through the combined functional principal component analysis approach.Through the coefficients of the latent factors one may further explore the association of the multiple outcomes.This method is applied to the multivariate growth data of infants in a real medical study in Shanghai and produces interpretable results.Convergence rates for the proposed estimates of the varying coefficient and covariance functions of the model are derived under mild conditions.

Study on Antibacterial Activity of 2-Methyl-3-(methylthio)Pyrazine Against Three Strains of Spoilage Bacteria

Previous studies have shown that glycine and proline are pharmacophores that display antibacterial activity.In the present study,glycine and proline were derivated to diketopiperazine compounds by chemical synthesis method,and their antibacterial activities were evaluated by three strains of spoilage bacteria,Escherichia coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Shewanella putrefaciens,and the relationship of their antibacterial activities and structures was also investigated.Uv-vis spectrophotometry was used to determine the growth curves of three kinds of active indicator bacteria.Minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC)was determined by micro broth dilution method.The results showed that 2-methyl-3-(methylthio)pyrazine had significant antibacterial activity against three strains of the bacteria,and its MIC was 1.25%.It indicates 2-methyl-3-(methylthio)pyrazine has the potential to be developed as a kind of preservative in future.

ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL INFLUENCE IN A GROWTH CURVE MODEL WITH RAO'S SIMPLE COVARIANCE STRUCTURE

The present paper deals with the problem of assessing the local influence in a growth curve model with Rao's simple covariance structure. Based on the likelihood displacement,the curvature measure is employed to evaluate the effects of some minor perturbations on the statistical inference, thus leading to the large curvature direction, which is the most critical diagnostic statistic in the context of the local influence analysis. As an application, the common covariance-weighted perturbation scheme is thoroughly considered.

ADMISSIBILITY OF LINEAR ESTIMATORS IN A GROWTH CURVE MODEL SUBJECT TO AN INCOMPLETE ELLIPSOIDAL RESTRICTION

This article considers the admissibility of the linear estimators for the regression coefficients in the growth curve model subject to an incomplete ellipsoidal restriction. The necessary and sufficient conditions for linear estimators to be admissible in classes of the homogeneous and non-homogeneous linear estimators, respectively, are obtained under the quadratic loss function. They are generalizations of some existing results in literature.

BAYESIAN LOCAL INFLUENCE ASSESSMENTS IN A GROWTH CURVE MODEL WITH GENERAL COVARIANCE STRUCTURE

The objective of this paper is to present a Bayesian approach based on Kullback- Leibler divergence for assessing local influence in a growth curve model with general co- variance structure. Under certain prior distribution assumption, the Kullback-Leibler di- vergence is used to measure the influence of some minor perturbation on the posterior distribution of unknown parameter. This leads to the diagnostic statistic for detecting which response is locally influential. As an application, the common covariance-weighted perturbation scheme is thoroughly considered.

ADMISSIBILITY IN THE GENERAL GROWTH CURVE MODEL WITH RESPECT TO RESTRICTED PARAMETER SETS UNDER MATRIX LOSS FUNCTION

In this paper, we study the issue of admissibility in the growth curve model with respect to restricted parameter sets under matrix loss function. We obtain some neces- sary and sufficient conditions that the linear estimators of KBL are admissible in the class of homogeneous linear estimators and in the class of non-homogeneous linear estimators under the growth curve model with respect to restricted parameter sets, respectively.

Comparative Study on Analysis and Fitting of Pudong Chicken Growth Curve

The objective of this paper was to study the growth and development laws of Pudong chicken. The growth curve of Pudong chicken （cock and hen） from 0 to 20 weeks was analyzed and fitted with three models（Gompertz, Logistic and Bertalanffy）. It was concluded that the growth curves were appropriately fitted with three models, and fitness degree （R2）in growth data of Pudong chicken were all above 0.992. The Bertalanffy model was the most effective with the highest R2 for cock （R^2=0.995） and hen （R^2=0.999）, respectively. With further analysis of fitted parameters for Logis- tic model of cock, 0-3 weeks＇ fitted values were significantly greater than measured values and 4-8 weeks＇ fitted values were lower than measured values. Compared with Logistic model, the values calculated by Gompertz model and Bertalanffy model were more coincident with the practical measuring values. For hens, 0-3 weeks＇ fitted values of Logistic model were significantly greater than measured values and 0-2 weeks＇ fitted values of Gompertz model were slightly greater than measured values, while the values calculated by Bertalanffy model best matched the observed values from actual measure. The results showed that Bertalanffy model used to estimate the growth weight of Pudong chicken was the best while Logistic model was the worst. So the fitness and analysis of growth curves of Pudong chicken are valid, which may be adopted to predict growth and development laws of Pudong chicken and provide reliable data for precise feeding and breeding.

AIC-Based Selection of Growth Models: The Case of Piglets from Organic Farming

The selection and comparison of different growth models for describing weight gain of piglets raised in organic farming is investigated by using the Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC). In total, 49,699 data points of 5188 piglets recorded between 2007 and 2013 were considered. From the day of birth, up to 40 days (i.e. until weaning) the model of von Bertalanffy was favored by the AIC. This model is with 60.32% more likely to truly reflect reality than any other of the analyzed models. Up to 105 days, the two-linear model was favored by the AIC (probability 99.75%). The intersection point of the two-linear model was calculated by 53.8 days, which fitted well to the actual change in the food situations.

A promising resilience parameter for breeding:the use of weight and feed trajectories in growing pigs

Background Increasing resilience is a priority in modern pig breeding.Recent research shows that general resilience can be quantified via variability in longitudinal data.The collection of such longitudinal data on weight,feed intake and feeding behaviour in pigs has been facilitated by the development of technologies such as automated feeding stations.The goal of this study was to investigate resilience traits,which were estimated as deviations from longitudinal weight,feed intake and feeding behaviour data during the finishing phase.A dataset with 324,207 records between the age of 95 and 155 days on 5,939 Pietrain pigs with known pedigree and genomic information was used.We provided guidelines for a rigid quality control of longitudinal body weight data,as we found that outliers can significantly affect results.Gompertz growth curve analysis,linear modelling and trajectory analyses were used for quantifying resilience traits.Results To our knowledge,this is the first study comparing resilience traits from longitudinal body weight,feed intake and feeding behaviour data in pigs.We demonstrated that the resilience traits are lowly to moderately heritable for deviations in body weight(h2=2.9%–20.2%),in feed intake(9.4%–23.3%)and in feeding behaviour(16.2%–28.3%).Additionally,these traits have good predictive abilities in cross-validation analyses.Deviations in individual body weight and feed intake trajectories are highly correlated(rg=0.78)with low to moderate favourable genetic correlations with feed conversion ratio(rg=0.39–0.49).Lastly,we showed that some resilience traits,such as the natural logarithm of variances of observed versus predicted body weights(lnvarweight),are more robust to lower observation frequencies and are repeatable over three different time periods of the finishing phase.Conclusions Our results will help future studies investigating resilience traits and resilience-related traits.Moreover,our study provides first results on standardization of quality control and efficient data sampling from automated feeding station data.Our findings will be valuable for breeding organizations as they offer evidence that pigs’general resilience can be selected on with good accuracy.Moreover,this methodology might be extended to other species to quantify resilience based on longitudinal data.

Nitraria sibirica cell suspension culture:establishment,characterization and application

Nitraria sibirica Pall. is a shrub that grows in saline-alkali soil and has traditional medicinal value and potential commercial value. The objectives of this study include induction and multiplication of callus, establishment of a suspension cell line, and isolation of protoplasts from cell suspensions. Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium was used for callus induction from mature seeds of N. sibirica. Seed-derived calluses were further multiplied on MS medium augmented with 0.5 mg L-1 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA) and 1.0 mg L-1 2,4-dichlorophenoxy (2,4-D) acetic acid. Suspension cultures of N. sibirica were initiated by transferring friable calli to the same liquid multiplication medium. Characterization of the suspension culture was assessed based on fresh mass, dry mass, cell viability and pH value of the culture. A typical growth curve was observed after inoculating 1.5 g of callus in 40 mL liquid medium, including a lag phase, an exponential growth phase, a stationary phase, and a negative acceleration phase. The effect of factors such as pre-plasmolysis, enzyme combination, enzymolysis time and mannitol concentration, on the isolation of cell-derived protoplasts were evaluated to determine the usefulness of suspension cultures. The maximum yield (9.79 x 10(6) cells/g) and highest viability (79.97%) of protoplast were reached when approximately 1 g of cell suspension (cultured for 6 days) was inoculated for 12 h in cell and protoplast washing solution made of 0.8 mol L-1 mannitol mixture solution, cellulose onozuka R-10 2% (w/v), hemicellulose 0.2%, macerozyme R-10 1%, and pectolyase Y-23 0.5%. Protoplast yield was significantly influenced by pre-plasmolysis and cellulose onozuka R-10 (P < 0.05).

Dynamic Variation and Correlation of Pericarp Tenderness and Component Contents of Super Sweet Corn(sh_(2))in Kernel Development

Data on the mechanism of how pericarp components in fresh sweet corn affect pericarp tenderness are scarce.This study explored variation and correlation of pericarp tenderness and components over time in three inbred lines of sweet corn that were selected for their differences in pericarp tenderness.The three lines presented a curvilinear increase in pericarp tenderness(puncture reading)from 12 to 24 d after pollination(DAP)across two environments,with the means at each time point always in the same order:S33205>T105>PE10.Pericarp tenderness difference at each same time point in two environments over time varied similarly in each of the three inbred lines:increasing first,then dropping after peak,and insignificant at the end.Of the main pericarp components,mean contents were in the order:hemicellulose>cellulose>lignin in both environments at each time point for the three inbred lines.As the pericarp developed,hemicellulose content increased gradually,lignin content varied along a single-peak curve,cellulose content fluctuated around 24%,and pectin and ash contents changed slightly and irregularly.The pericarp of PE10,with the most tender pericarp,accumulated hemicellulose faster than other two lines.Hemicellulose and lignin contents were significantly correlated with pericarp tenderness,and the main components affected pericarp tenderness.

带有不等式约束的生长曲线模型中线性估计的容许性(英文)

For the growth curve model with respect to inequality restriction： Y = XBZ ＋ε,ε（0, σ2V I）, trNB ≥0, this paper gives some necessary and sufficient conditions for the linear estimator of KBL to be admissible in the class of homogeneous linear estimators LH and nonhomogeneous linear estimators LI, respectively, under the quadratic loss function tr（d（Y） - KBL）＇（d（Y） - KBL）.

Isolation and Characterization of Bacterium isolated from Bantala Tannery Solid Wastes

Leather industries that uses the conventional chrome tanning process are subjected to high risk of contamination due to the emission of toxic Cr(VI)that poses a serious threat to the environment and human’s wellbeing.The present study were made to isolate and characterize chromium tolerant bacteria in the samples collected from four different plots of Bantala Tannery,Kolkata,West Bengal,India.Pure chromium tolerant bacterial strains were isolated from the tannery sludge samples and their relative MIC(Minimum Inhibitory Concentration)were recorded at different concentrations of Cr(VI)salts to select the highest chromium tolerant bacterium.The selected bacterium was further taken for their growth studies followed by different cultural,morphological and molecular analysis(16S rDNA).The bacterial strain was further studied through SEM(Scanning Electron microscopy)and EDX(Energy Dispersive X-ray)spectroscopy which revealed that TW4 was a gram positive,rod shaped,endospore forming,pleomorphic bacterium with phylogenetic similarities with Isoptericola sp.and genebank accession number SUB1732465 TW4 KX640927.

Modeling the growth of individuals in crowded plant populations

Aims We present an improved model for the growth of individuals in plant populations experiencing competition.Methods Individuals grow sigmoidally according to the Birch model,which is similar to the more commonly used Richards model,but has the advantage that initial plant growth is always exponential.The individual plant growth models are coupled so that there is a maximum total biomass for the population.The effects of size-asymmetric competition are modeled with a parameter that reflects the size advantage that larger individual have over smaller individuals.We fit the model to data on individual growth in crowded populations of Chenopodium album.Important Findings When individual plant growth curves were not coupled,there was a negative or no correlation between initial growth rate and final size,suggesting that competitive interactions were more important in determining final plant size than were plants’initial growth rates.The coupled growth equations fit the data better than individual,uncoupled growth models,even though the number of estimated parameters in the coupled competitive growth model was far fewer,indicating the importance of modeling competition and the degree of size-asymmetric growth explicitly.A quantitative understanding of stand development in terms of the growth of individuals,as altered by competition,is within reach.

Applications of structural equation modeling(SEM)in ecological studies:an updated review

Aims:This review was developed to introduce the essential components and variants of structural equation modeling(SEM),synthesize the common issues in SEM applications,and share our views on SEM’s future in ecological research.Methods:We searched the Web of Science on SEM applications in ecological studies from 1999 through 2016 and summarized the potential of SEMs,with a special focus on unexplored uses in ecology.We also analyzed and discussed the common issues with SEM applications in previous publications and presented our view for its future applications.Results:We searched and found 146 relevant publications on SEM applications in ecological studies.We found that five SEM variants had not commenly been applied in ecology,including the latent growth curve model,Bayesian SEM,partial least square SEM,hierarchical SEM,and variable/model selection.We identified ten common issues in SEM applications including strength of causal assumption,specification of feedback loops,selection of models and variables,identification of models,methods of estimation,explanation of latent variables,selection of fit indices,report of results,estimation of sample size,and the fit of model.Conclusions:In previous ecological studies,measurements of latent variables,explanations of model parameters,and reports of key statistics were commonly overlooked,while several advanced uses of SEM had been ignored overall.With the increasing availability of data,the use of SEM holds immense potential for ecologists in the future.

Estimation of body weight in captive Amur tigers(Panthera tigris altaica)

So far,there has been no safe and convenient method to weigh the largefierce animals,like Amur tigers.To address this problem,we built models to predict the body weight of Amur tigers based on the fact that body weight is proportional to body measurements or age.Using the method of body measurements,we extracted the body measurements from 4 different kinds of the lateral body image of tigers,that is,total lateral image,central lateral image,ellipsefitting image,and rectanglefitting image,and then we respectively used artificial neural network(ANN)and power regression model to analyze the predictive relationships between body weight and body measurements.Our results demonstrated that,among all ANN models,the model built with rectanglefitting image had the smallest mean square error.Comparatively,we screened power regression models which had the smallest Akakai information criteria(AIC).In addition,using the method of age,wefitted nonlinear regression models for the relationship between body weight and age and found that,for male tigers,logistic model had the smallest AIC.For female tigers,Gompertz model had the smallest AIC.Consequently,this study could be applied to estimate body weight of captive,or even wild,Amur tigers safely and conveniently,helping to monitor individual health and growth of the Amur tiger populations.

Admissibility of Linear Estimators with Respect to Inequality Constraints Under Some Loss Functions

In this paper, we study the issue of admissibility of linear estimated functions of parameters in the multivariate linear model with respect to inequality constraints under a matrix loss and a matrix balanced loss. Under the matrix loss, when the model is not constrained, the results in the class of non-homogeneous linear estimators [Xie, 1989, Chinese Sci. Bull., 1148-1149; Xie, 1993, J. Multivariate Anal., 1071-1074] showed that the admissibility under the matrix loss and the trace loss is equivalent. However, when the model is constrained by the inequality constraints, we find this equivalency is not tenable, our result shows that the admissibility of linear estimator does not depend on the constraints again under this matrix loss, but it is contrary under the trace loss [Wu, 2008, Linear Algebra Appl., 2040-2048], and it is also relative to the constraints under another matrix loss [He, 2009, Linear Algebra Appl., 241-250]. Under the matrix balanced loss, the necessary and sufficient conditions that the linear estimators are admissible in the class of homogeneous and non-homogeneous linear estimators are obtained, respectively. These results will support the theory of admissibility on the linear model with inequality constraints.