This report describes the project background, design process plus the final result of my MFA degree thesis in Advanced Product Design at Umeå Institute of Design. A breast pump is generally a mechanical or electrical suction device for withdrawing milk from the breast of a lactating woman. Even though the first pumps were patented in the mid-19th century as medical devices for in-hospital use, breast pumps as widely available consumer products have only been around for a little more than 20 years. Existing breast pumps do not address functional as well as emotional needs of many mothers and there is great potential for improvements and innovative solutions to transform pumping into a more enjoyable and positively associated experience. The main purpose of this project is to rethink the way breast pumps are currently used in order to push the boundaries, and come up with a forward-looking, conceptual design solution as a final result. This human-centered design project was carried out in close collaboration with various experts in the areas of pediatrics, breastfeeding and lactation counselling. Moreover this project was done in cooperation with leading design and innovation consulting firm IDEO. San Francisco basted design director Thomas Overthun provided mentoring throughout the design process. Regular check-in calls and feedback sessions were set up throughout the project to discuss project milestones. Anders Smith, an experienced industrial designer from Denmark, closely followed throughout the project as an external design tutor at Umeå Institute of Design. Several tutoring sessions were held on a regular basis. Continuous involvement of experts and external project advisors helped to make sure that the project remains valid and provided a great source for relevant insights, expert knowledge and professional feedback. "Being able to develop an impactful and forward-looking design solution that can encourage positive change both on an individual and societal level has been my main motivation to tackle this design challenge".

The objective of these studies was to determine the effects of forage fiber, social hierarchy, and stocking density on stress in lactating cows during relocation to new dairy facilities. In experiment one, 23 lactating cows were fed a basal ration, or the basal ration plus grass or alfalfa hay at 10% of DM offered from 3 wk pre-move to 9 wk post-move. In experiment two, 17 lactating cows were housed together before and after relocation and evaluated for dominance rank. In experiment three, 44 cows were housed together before relocation, then in pens of varying stocking density (0.67, 0.83, 1.0, or 1.17 cows per stall) post-move. In these studies, the effects of treatment on MY, lameness, behaviors, plasma cortisol, cow cleanliness, and DMI were monitored. In experiment one, cows fed grass or alfalfa hay diets had higher plasma cortisol concentrations on the day of relocation than cows fed TMR, but there were no differences in DMI or MY. Cows fed alfalfa hay or TMR had increased lameness scores following relocation; cows fed grass hay did not have increased lameness scores. In experiment two, there were no differences in plasma cortisol or lameness scores between dominant and subordinate cows. Subordinate cows had lower MY following relocation compared to dominant cows. In experiment three, cows housed at a stocking rate of 1.17 had higher plasma cortisol than cows housed at a stocking rate of 0.67. All cows had higher lameness scores following relocation, but cows housed at a stocking rate of 0.67 tended to have higher lameness scores than cows housed at stocking rates of 0.83, 1.0, and 1.17. In summary, some management practices may decrease the negative effects of stress on lactating cows during relocation. / Master of Science

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Phosphorus (P) is an instrumental nutrient in numerous physiological processes, but can have detrimental environmental impact if fed in excess. Increased P intake in dairy cows leads to increased fecal excretion of P and a reduction in efficiency of use. Variability in P concentration or availability in feedstuffs can exacerbate P excretion. To investigate variability in P between and within feedstuffs, 170 feed samples (forages, concentrates, and by-products), were collected from across the U.S., classified by region fed, and analyzed for total P, inorganic P, and phytate. Forages contained a greater proportion of P in the inorganic form and less total P and phytate as compared to concentrates and by-products. The majority of total P (71.2, 81.8, and 81.9% of total P in forages, concentrates, and by-products, respectively) was associated with inorganic P and phytate. The enzyme phytase has been used successfully in swine and poultry nutrition, as a feed additive, to increase available P and reduce the need for supplemental inorganic P. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of phytase use and forage particle length, using a 2 x 2 factorial, on P availability in lactating dairy cows. Total P intake of the four diets was similar (P > 0.15). Total tract digestibility of total P tended (P < 0.10) to be reduced and total P excretion was increased (P < 0.05) with phytase supplementation. Milk fat yield, protein yield, 3.5% FCM, and ECM were increased (P < 0.05) with addition of exogenous phytase to the diet. This indicates that phytate may contain some anti-nutritional factors that reduce availability in other nutrients used for milk production. Variation in P compounds between feeds, and variation in P digestion and production performance with exogenous phytase suggests opportunity for improvement in prediction of P availability from feeds for lactating cows. / Ph. D.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Duane L. Davis / Jim L. Nelssen / A total of 188 sows and their litters were used in 2 experiments to evaluate methods to induce estrus and ovulation in lactating sows and effects on pig growth. In Exp. 1, an altered suckling method (ALT) was designed to combine split-weaning and intermittent suckling as a means to reduce the suckling stimulus in primi- and multiparous sows during the last week of lactation (d 18 to 25). The ALT sows were also removed for daily boar exposure. The ALT treatment produced lactational estrus in 75% and 95% of primiparous and multiparous sows, respectively. The ALT sows were in estrus earlier (P < 0.01) than controls post-farrowing, with no effect on subsequent reproductive performance. From d 18 to 32, the ALT treatment benefited (P < 0.01) growth of lightweight pigs but decreased (P < 0.01) BW gain of heavyweight pigs, resulting in overall similar growth. However, variation in BW was reduced (P < 0.01) by 50% for ALT litters. In Exp. 2, varying suckling reduction strategies were applied to boar-exposed lactating sows. Overall, 76% of sows in suckling reduction treatments expressed estrus in lactation. Split-weaned and ALT sows performed reproductively similar to controls, whereas sows with daily litter separation or a single 24 h litter removal tended (P < 0.10) to have reduced conception rates versus controls or split-weaned sows. Reduced suckling treatments differed in their ability to induce lactational estrus and impact on pig BW gain immediately post-weaning. However, no evidence was found of benefit for pig growth to market weight or litter BW variation. Four additional experiments using 902 nursery pigs were conducted to test the efficacy of potential detoxifying agents against deoxynivalenol (DON) in swine diets. The effects of DON were not offset by adding an algae-modified montmorillonite clay nor by a proprietary blend of preservatives and clays. However, hydrothermally treating DON-contaminated diets with sodium metabisulfite modified the structure of DON to a non-toxic DON-sulfonate adduct and restored nursery pig growth via improved (P < 0.05) ADG, ADFI and G:F.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Joel DeRouchey / Jason Woodworth / Two experiments using a total of 646 nursery pigs were used to determine the effects of increasing phytase on nursery pig growth performance and bone ash characteristics. Two experiments using a total of 821 sows were used to determine the impact of increasing standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine (Lys) in lactating sows. Experiment 1 determined the available phosphorus (aP) release of Natuphos E 5,000 G phytase in nursery pigs. Increasing phytase from 0 to 1,000 FTU/kg in phosphorus deficient diets improved nursery pig performance and bone ash characteristics. Using percentage bone ash and formulated phytase concentrations, an equation was developed to predict aP release up to 1,000 FTU/kg of Natuphos E phytase. Experiment 2 was conducted to determine the effect of Superdosing Natuphos E 5,000 G phytase on nursery pig performance and bone ash characteristics. Increasing phytase in diets marginal in P improved pig performance and bone ash values. Increasing phytase in P sufficient diets improved bone ash percent and tended to improve feed efficiency. Experiments 3 and 4 determined the impacts of increasing SID Lys in primiparous and multiparous lactating sows and their litters. In Exp. 3, increasing SID Lys above 0.80% in primiparous sows decreased backfat loss, but had no effect on sow BW loss, ADFI or litter gain. Conception rate at d 30 and percentage born alive tended to improve at 0.95% SID Lys. In Exp. 4 with mixed parity sows, increasing SID Lys to 1.05% increased sow weaning BW, litter gain, and reduced weight loss in lactation. Sow backfat loss increased as SID Lys increased from 0.75 to 1.20%, however loin eye depth loss was reduced as SID Lys increased. Percentage of females bred by d 7 after weaning was improved in primiparous females with increasing SID Lys, however no difference was observed in multiparous sows.

Pasture is considered one of our most important agricultural crops, contributing more than one third of all feed consumed by livestock in the United States. High quality pasture has been recognized to be highly important in efficient milk production. It has been shown, however, that good pasture must be supplemented by concentrates if' milk production is to be maintained at a high level.

Grain feeding is an important part of a dairy feeding program. Grain supplies energy in a concentrated form and when fed as a supplement to forage permits cows to maintain high levels of production. Also, if the forage is of low quality, additional protein and other nutrients can be supplied with the grain in a concentrate mix. By feeding a balanced concentrate mix, according to individual production, each cow receives the necessary nutrients for production. Dairy cows are usually fed grain individually. During recent years dairy herds have increased in size and milking parlors have been developed in which to milk cows more efficiently. In milking parlors cows are generally fed grain individually. However, the cows are milked so rapidly that there is insufficient time for them to consume more than a few pounds of grain. Cows not consuming all of their grain, while being milked, are left in the stall until the remaining grain is eaten, thus delaying the milking operation or turned out without consuming the allotted amount of grain.

The role that each of the Notch receptors play in controlling alveolar development and cell fate determination in the mouse mammary gland has remained unclear. By utilizing a cre-conditional constitutively active intracellular Notch1 knock-in I define, in vivo, that ectopic Notch1 activation is sufficient to inhibit ductal outgrowth, cause the formation of alveolar-like cell accumulations, and promote Elf5+/ER- cell fate, at the expense of ER+ cell fate, in the mammary gland of pubescent mice. Furthermore, ectopic Notch1 in the pregnant mammary gland is sufficient to promote the formation of pregnancy/lactation-dependent lactating adenomas. These lactating adenomas consist of differentiated secretory cells and normally regress during involution but progress into non-regressing tumours after multiple pregnancies. These lactating adenomas exhibit decapitation secretions characteristic of apocrine differentiation. Together these results suggest that Notch1 may function to promote Elf5+/ER- cell fate and may be misregulated in pregnancy-associated masses and apocrine-carcinoma of the breast in humans.