Lactation persistency is defined as the ability of a cow to maintain production at a higher level after peak yield. Hypothetically, more persistent cows are less susceptible to health and reproductive disorders. The objective of this research was to investigate the phenotypic relationships of common health disorders in dairy cows to lactation persistency. The relationships with peak yield and days in milk (DIM) at peak yield were also studied. Two separate investigations (Study 1 and Study 2) were performed. Study 1 used treatment incidence data and daily milk weights of 991 lactations from experimental dairy herds at Virginia Tech and Pennsylvania State University. Milk yield persistency (PM) was estimated for individual lactations using daily milk weights. In Study 2, producer recorded health data of 87555 lactations from 398 commercial herds were used. PM, fat (PF), and protein (PP) persistencies were estimated from TD yields. Mastitis only in the first 100 days, only after 100 DIM, and at any stage of lactation, and reproductive disorders including metritis, retained placenta, cystic ovaries, metabolic diseases including ketosis, milk fever and displaced abomasums, and lameness were considered in both studies. Mastitis both before and after 100 DIM was considered only in Study 1. Each disease was defined as a binary trait distinguishing between lactations with at least one incidence (1) and lactations with no incidences (0). Standardized measures of the persistencies, uncorrelated with yield, were calculated as a function of yield deviations from standard curves and DIM deviations around reference dates. Peak milk yield and DIM at peak of individual lactations were computed using Wood's function. Effects of persistency (PM, PF, and PP) on probability of the diseases in current and next lactations were examined through odds ratios from a logistic regression model. Conversely, the effects of diseases on persistencies, peak milk yield, and DIM at peak milk yield were also examined. Increasing PM, PF, and PP tend to reduce the incidence of mastitis, specifically in late stages of current and next lactation. PM and PP appear to have greater impact on mastitis than PF. No other likelihood of a disease was affected by the increasing persistencies. Post partum reproductive and metabolic diseases often had substantially positive effect on persistencies of both primiparous and multiparous cows (p<0.001 in Study 1 and p<0.001 in Study 2). Mastitis in early lactation appeared to increase persistency more often in multiparous cows (p<0.05 in Study 1 and p<0.005 in Study 2). Mastitis in late lactation had considerable but negative impact on persistency in both primiparous and multiparous cows (p<0.05 in Study 1 and p<0.005 in Study 2). Cows, which developed mastitis in both early and late lactations tended to have lower PM (p<0.05 in Study 1). Irrespective to the time of occurrence, effect of mastitis on milk, fat and protein yield persistencies was negative. Most of the diseases significantly affected DIM at peak milk yield in multiparous cows (p<0.05 in Study 1). Reproductive and metabolic disorders tended to delay DIM at peak milk yield while Mastitis in late lactation was associated with early DIM at peak milk yield. Lameness had no phenotypic relationships with shape of the lactation curve. Overall, diseases tend to affect milk, fat, and protein persistencies more strongly than the impact of persistency on likelihood of disease. / Master of Science

Empirical findings on herding behavior among institutional investors suggest that those market participants speed up the price adjustment to new information and as such stabilize stock prices. Other findings indicate the opposite, that institutional herds drive stock prices away from fundamental values, and thus destabilize stock prices. This study examines the effect that Swedish institutional investors have on the stock prices on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. More precisely, we analyze the relationship of institutional herding with future excess stock returns. Major findings from this paper suggest that persistent herding among Swedish institutional investors leads to future long-term return reversals, which to some extent indicates a destabilizing influence at long horizons.

This dissertation consists of two essays: the first investigates informed trading in the Chinese stock exchanges, and the second examines the persistency of correlation of currency future prices. For the first essay, using a sample of Chinese firms dual-listed in both the China mainland stock exchange and the Hong Kong stock exchange, I investigate the two types of informed trading - insider trading and trading derived from better analysis in the A-and H-share markets. The results suggest that H-shares have relatively more informed trading based on better analysis. In addition, the results from the firm size regression can also be seen as indirect evidence that larger firms tend to have trading with better analysis and less insider trading. These patterns are also confirmed in the sub-period analysis. However, I find no significant relation between informed trading and the relative pricing of A- and H-shares. For the second essay I examine the dynamic correlation between currency futures prices, focusing on the persistency of correlation of currency prices. Using the Dynamic Conditional Correlation model developed by Engle (2002), this study incorporates time-varying correlations into the analysis. The sample includes eight currency futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from 1999 to 2008 and the U.S. dollar index future. The study finds that the Canadian dollar has the greater persistency while the Brazilian real has the weakest. No less important, the study finds that the time-varying conditional correlation between currency futures and the U.S. dollar futures is influenced by two types of liquidity: price impacts (Amihud illiquidity) and the logarithm of trading volume.

Abstracts This survey is done, based on the medium-large sized insurance company, Kuo-Hwa Life Insurance Company. It is focused on the interactions of its marketing, service quality, insurer¡¦s expected service, perceived service, perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, loyalty, persistency, repurchase and recommendation, in order for the company to evaluate and establish guidelines of the marketing st-rategy. Those who were questionnaired are the insurers over 18-years-old in the metropolitan areas of Tainan. The personnel of Customer Service within the company have distributed 800 questionnaires. Among these, 586 questionnaires were returned with 20 of them void, making it 566 valid. EXCEL, SPSS statistics software were applied to analyze the insured age, marital status, education, annual income and occupation, to better understand tleir perceived service quality, satisfaction, loyalty, persistency and the intention of repurchase of other products from Kuo-Hwa Life Insurance. The research has resulted in: Positive reflection between Perceived Service versus Perceived Service Quality; Positive reflection between Expected Service versus Perceived Service Quality; Positive reflection between Perceived Service versus Satisfaction; Positive reflection between Perceived Service Quality versus Satisfaction; Positive reflection between Expected Service versus Satisfaction; Positive reflection between Satisfaction versus Persistency and Repurchase of Other Insurance Products; Positive reflection between Customer Satisfaction versus recommendation.

I study to what extent consumers’ expectations of inflation are formed differently in the short run for countries that belong to a monetary union, which implies a common inflation-targeting central bank, in contrast to countries with national inflationtar geting central banks. I measure if there are differences in consumers’ reaction s to inflation deviation from target, persistency of expected inflation and the ability to predict accurate inflation in the respective considered countries. I also measure average deviation and average absolute deviation of actual and expected inflation from the inflation target. The results suggest that the respective country’s average reaction to inflation deviation from target, degree of persistent expectation and the ability to predict accurate inflation rates are in the same range as well as the results for the average and average absolute deviations. Therefore, I conclude that there are no substantial differences in the formation of consumers’ expectations in countries belonging to a monetary union and countries with national inflation-targeting central banks, in the short run.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:42:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 944031 bytes, checksum: 9c9abb8ae00a97e3c2ac0c085044b2ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Data from 10,238 weekly milk yield records from 388 first lactations of Saanen goats were used to evaluate the persistency of lactation under a random regression model. First, five models were compared (W035, W05, W0565, W068 e W10) generated by modifications of Wilmink function, assuming homogeneity of residual variance along the lactation. The value -0.05 was kept on model W05 while models W035, W0565, W068 e W10 used values -0.035, -0.0565, -0.068 e -0.10, respectively, in replacement to -0.05 value. After choosing the best model, six structures were evaluated for residual variance: homogeneity, two classes, three classes, four classes, five classes and six classes along the lactation. Subsequently, six different measures of persistency of lactation, adapted from those used on dairy cattle, obtained by replacing bovine reference values to goats ones on the expressions. AIC, BIC, ln L criterions and likelihood ratio test (nested models) were used on models evaluation. Model W035 presented the best fit among the evaluated ones. Relating to residual variance, the most indicated by used criterions was the structure of six classes. By presenting less genetic correlation with milk yield until 268 days (0.14), the persistency measure (PS4) obtained by the sum of genetic values, on period from 41st to 240th day of lactation, as deviations of yield at 40 days of lactation may be pointed for genetic evaluations. Because of the low heritability of this measure (0.03), few responses from selection are expected on this herd. / Utilizaram-se 10.238 registros semanais de produção de leite provenientes de 388 primeiras lactações de cabras da raça Saanen na avaliação da persistência da lactação sob modelo de regressão aleatória. Primeiramente, foram comparados cinco modelos (W035, W05, W0565, W068 e W10) gerados a partir de modificações da função de Wilmink, assumindo-se homogeneidade de variância residual ao longo da lactação. No modelo W05, o valor -0,05 foi mantido, enquanto nos modelos W035, W0565, W068 e W10 foram usados os valores -0,035, -0,0565, -0,068 e -0,10, respectivamente, em substituição ao valor -0,05. Escolhido o modelo, foram avaliadas seis estruturas para a variância residual: homogeneidade, duas classes, três classes, quatro classes, cinco classes e seis classes ao longo da lactação. Posteriormente, foram avaliadas seis diferentes medidas da persistência da lactação, que são adaptações de medidas utilizadas em bovinos de leite, obtidas por substituir, nas fórmulas, os valores de referência de bovinos pelos de caprinos. Os critérios AIC, BIC, ln L e teste de razão de verossimilhança (modelos aninhados) foram usados na avaliação dos modelos. O modelo W035 apresentou o melhor ajuste dentre os avaliados. Com relação à variância residual, a estrutura com seis classes ao longo da lactação foi a mais indicada pelos critérios utilizados. Por apresentar menor correlação genética com produção de leite até 268 dias (0,14), a medida de persistência (PS4) obtida pelo somatório dos valores genéticos, no período do 41o ao 240o dia de lactação, como desvios da produção aos 40 dias de lactação deve ser indicada para avaliações genéticas. Em razão da baixa herdabilidade desta medida (0,03), pequenas respostas à seleção são esperadas neste rebanho.

Dans cette thèse, des méthodes dites de Lyapunov sont proposées afin de résoudre des problèmes liés à la coordination distribuée des systèmes multiagent, plus précisément, un groupe de systèmes (agents) non-linéaires formés de robots mobiles non-holonomes est considéré. Pour ce groupe de systèmes, des lois de commande distribuée sont proposées dans le but de résoudre des problèmes de type leader-suiveur en formation et aussi des problèmes de type formation sans-leader par une approche de consensus, sous différentes hypothèses sur le graphe de communication et surtout sur les vitesses du leader.L'originalité de ce travail est dans l'approche proposée pour l'étude de stabilité de la boucle fermée, cette approche consiste à transformer les deux derniers problèmes en des problèmes de stabilisation globale asymptotique d'un ensemble invariant. L’analyse de stabilité est basée sur la construction de fonction de Lyapunov et de fonction de Lyapunov-Karasovskii strictes pour des classes de systèmes non-linéaires variant dans le temps présentant des retards bornés et variant dans le temps. / In this thesis, we propose a Lyapunov based approaches to address some distributedsolutions to multi-agent coordination problems, more precisely, we consider a groupof agents modeled as nonholonomic mobile robots, we provide a distributed controllaws in order to solve the leader-follower and the leaderless consensus problems under different assumptions on the communication graph topology and on the leader’strajectories. The originality of this work relies on the closed-loop analysis approach, that is, it consists on transforming the last two problems into a global stabilization problem of an invariant set. The stability analysis is mainly based on the construction of strict Lyapunov functions and strict Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals for a classes of nonlinear time-varying and/or delayed systems.

Devido às questões de planejamento e operações agrícolas, é utilizado cada vez mais, no setor produtivo da cana-de-açúcar, o controle químico de plantas daninhas durante o período seco do ano, uma vez que mesmo em menores densidades populacionais, podem prejudicar o desenvolvimento da cultura. Neste sentido, este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de se avaliar a eficácia de herbicidas, em condição de pré-emergência e períodos de restrição hídrica, para o controle das principais espécies de plantas daninhas presentes nos canaviais. Para tanto, dois experimentos foram desenvolvidos em campo, sendo um em fazenda de produção comercial, próxima a Usina São João, no município de ArarasSP; e outro na Estação Experimental Agrícola (EEA) da DuPont do Brasil S/A, no município de PaulíniaSP, em que, sob condições controladas, estudou-se a atividade residual dos herbicidas quando submetidos a diferentes períodos de restrição hídrica. Em complementação, outro trabalho foi conduzido em casa-de-vegetação, também em Paulínia, a fim de se verificar a interação dos herbicidas com a palha da cultura e submetidos a diferentes períodos de restrição hídrica. Os herbicidas diuron+hexazinone+sulfometuron-methyl, isoxaflutole, imazapic e clomazone+hexazinone foram avaliados nas doses (1206+340+29 e 1386,9+391+33,35; 133; 165 e 1000+250 g.ha-1) para os ensaios conduzidos na EEA e (1085+306+26,1 e 1206+340+29; 150; 126 e 920+230 g.ha-1) para o experimento conduzido na Usina. As espécies de plantas daninhas avaliadas foram: Ipomoea triloba L., Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. e Euphorbia heterophylla L. para os experimentos no campo, e estas, mais Panicum maximum L. para o experimento conduzido em casa-de-vegetação. No campo, o herbicida diuron+hexazinone+sulfometuron-methyl mostrou-se eficaz para controle das espécies avaliadas, em ambas as doses, e pouco sensível aos períodos de restrição hídrica, sendo que para B. decumbens a maior dose foi mais eficaz. Em casa-de-vegetação, foi observada excelente eficácia, sem influência dos períodos de restrição hídrica, em ambas as doses, para leiteiro e capim-braquiária e verificou-se que a maior dose desse herbicida foi mais eficaz, nos maiores períodos de restrição hídrica, para P. maximum e I. triloba. Para isoxaflutole apenas o controle de B. decumbens deu-se de maneira satisfatória para as condições de campo, e para o experimento em casa-de-vegetação, o controle das espécies gramíneas foi eficaz apenas para os menores períodos de restrição hídrica, sendo para as dicotiledôneas, insatisfatório. Os períodos de restrição hídrica e a atividade residual influenciaram a eficácia de imazapic nos diferentes experimentos, à exceção de I. triloba para os ensaios a campo e B. decumbens na ausência de restrição hídrica sobre a palha. O controle do leiteiro por clomazone+hexazinone sofreu influência dos períodos de restrição hídrica e apresentou queda na atividade residual ao longo das avaliações, sendo que o herbicida mostrou bons níveis de controle para I. triloba e B. decumbens nos ensaios de campo, independente do período de restrição hídrica. Já para o ensaio de casa-de-vegetação, ocorreu influência do período de restrição hídrica e atividade residual. / Due to concerns related to planning and agricultural practices in sugarcane production, the chemical control of weeds during dry seasons has become a common practice. Even though the weed density is lower during this season it may still cause a significant reduction in cane yield. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of herbicides applied at pre-emergence when submitted to different drought periods, for the control of the major weed flora commonly found in sugarcane plantations. To achieve this goal two field experiments were carried out: one experiment in a commercial field, near the São João Mill, located in the Araras County, in São Paulo State, Brazil; a second experiment at the Paulínia Experimental Station (EEA), from Dupont do Brasil S/A, in the County of Paulínia, São Paulo, Brazil, where the residual activity of the herbicides was studied under controlled conditions. As a complement, a greenhouse study was also conducted at EEA in order to verify the interaction of the respective herbicides with sugarcane straws and the drought periods. The herbicides diuron + hexazinone + sulfometuron-methyl, isoxaflutole, imazapic and clomazone + hexazinone were evaluated in the following doses: (1206+340+29 and 1386.9+391+33.35+133; 165 and 1000+250 g.ha-1) for the experiments conducted at EEA and (1085+306+26.1 and 1206+340+29; 150; 126 and 920+230 g.ha-1) for the experiment conducted at the mill. The weed flora evaluated was: Ipomoea triloba L., Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. and E. heterophylla L. for the field experiments. In addition to these weeds, for the greenhouse experiment, Panicum maximum L. was also evaluated. In the field, the herbicide diuron+hexazinone+sulfometuron-methyl was effective for the control of the evaluated species, at both doses, and its activity was not significantly affected by the drought periods, with the exception of B. decumbens, for which, the higher dose was more effective; in the greenhouse tests, both doses of this herbicide showed an excellent control of E. heterophylla and B. decumbens without influence of the drought periods. Furthermore, the control of P. maximum and I. triloba in the extended periods of drought was more effective when the higher dose was used. With the exception of B. decumbens, isoxaflutole was not effective for the control of the tested weed species in both field and greenhouse. In addition, the control of the grasses species was only effective when shorter drought periods were applied and not effective for all tested broad leaves. The residual activity of imazapic was affected by the drought periods in different experiments, except for I. triloba in the field experiments and B. decumbens in the absence of drought periods when applied upon straw cover. The control of E. heterophylla by clomazone+hexazinone was influenced by the drought periods and showed a decrease in the residual activity along with the evaluations. This herbicide was effective in the field for the control of I. triloba and B. decumbens independently of the drought periods. However, in the greenhouse experiment, the drought periods significantly affect its performance and residual activity.

Devido às questões de planejamento e operações agrícolas, é utilizado cada vez mais, no setor produtivo da cana-de-açúcar, o controle químico de plantas daninhas durante o período seco do ano, uma vez que mesmo em menores densidades populacionais, podem prejudicar o desenvolvimento da cultura. Neste sentido, este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de se avaliar a eficácia de herbicidas, em condição de pré-emergência e períodos de restrição hídrica, para o controle das principais espécies de plantas daninhas presentes nos canaviais. Para tanto, dois experimentos foram desenvolvidos em campo, sendo um em fazenda de produção comercial, próxima a Usina São João, no município de ArarasSP; e outro na Estação Experimental Agrícola (EEA) da DuPont do Brasil S/A, no município de PaulíniaSP, em que, sob condições controladas, estudou-se a atividade residual dos herbicidas quando submetidos a diferentes períodos de restrição hídrica. Em complementação, outro trabalho foi conduzido em casa-de-vegetação, também em Paulínia, a fim de se verificar a interação dos herbicidas com a palha da cultura e submetidos a diferentes períodos de restrição hídrica. Os herbicidas diuron+hexazinone+sulfometuron-methyl, isoxaflutole, imazapic e clomazone+hexazinone foram avaliados nas doses (1206+340+29 e 1386,9+391+33,35; 133; 165 e 1000+250 g.ha-1) para os ensaios conduzidos na EEA e (1085+306+26,1 e 1206+340+29; 150; 126 e 920+230 g.ha-1) para o experimento conduzido na Usina. As espécies de plantas daninhas avaliadas foram: Ipomoea triloba L., Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. e Euphorbia heterophylla L. para os experimentos no campo, e estas, mais Panicum maximum L. para o experimento conduzido em casa-de-vegetação. No campo, o herbicida diuron+hexazinone+sulfometuron-methyl mostrou-se eficaz para controle das espécies avaliadas, em ambas as doses, e pouco sensível aos períodos de restrição hídrica, sendo que para B. decumbens a maior dose foi mais eficaz. Em casa-de-vegetação, foi observada excelente eficácia, sem influência dos períodos de restrição hídrica, em ambas as doses, para leiteiro e capim-braquiária e verificou-se que a maior dose desse herbicida foi mais eficaz, nos maiores períodos de restrição hídrica, para P. maximum e I. triloba. Para isoxaflutole apenas o controle de B. decumbens deu-se de maneira satisfatória para as condições de campo, e para o experimento em casa-de-vegetação, o controle das espécies gramíneas foi eficaz apenas para os menores períodos de restrição hídrica, sendo para as dicotiledôneas, insatisfatório. Os períodos de restrição hídrica e a atividade residual influenciaram a eficácia de imazapic nos diferentes experimentos, à exceção de I. triloba para os ensaios a campo e B. decumbens na ausência de restrição hídrica sobre a palha. O controle do leiteiro por clomazone+hexazinone sofreu influência dos períodos de restrição hídrica e apresentou queda na atividade residual ao longo das avaliações, sendo que o herbicida mostrou bons níveis de controle para I. triloba e B. decumbens nos ensaios de campo, independente do período de restrição hídrica. Já para o ensaio de casa-de-vegetação, ocorreu influência do período de restrição hídrica e atividade residual. / Due to concerns related to planning and agricultural practices in sugarcane production, the chemical control of weeds during dry seasons has become a common practice. Even though the weed density is lower during this season it may still cause a significant reduction in cane yield. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of herbicides applied at pre-emergence when submitted to different drought periods, for the control of the major weed flora commonly found in sugarcane plantations. To achieve this goal two field experiments were carried out: one experiment in a commercial field, near the São João Mill, located in the Araras County, in São Paulo State, Brazil; a second experiment at the Paulínia Experimental Station (EEA), from Dupont do Brasil S/A, in the County of Paulínia, São Paulo, Brazil, where the residual activity of the herbicides was studied under controlled conditions. As a complement, a greenhouse study was also conducted at EEA in order to verify the interaction of the respective herbicides with sugarcane straws and the drought periods. The herbicides diuron + hexazinone + sulfometuron-methyl, isoxaflutole, imazapic and clomazone + hexazinone were evaluated in the following doses: (1206+340+29 and 1386.9+391+33.35+133; 165 and 1000+250 g.ha-1) for the experiments conducted at EEA and (1085+306+26.1 and 1206+340+29; 150; 126 and 920+230 g.ha-1) for the experiment conducted at the mill. The weed flora evaluated was: Ipomoea triloba L., Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. and E. heterophylla L. for the field experiments. In addition to these weeds, for the greenhouse experiment, Panicum maximum L. was also evaluated. In the field, the herbicide diuron+hexazinone+sulfometuron-methyl was effective for the control of the evaluated species, at both doses, and its activity was not significantly affected by the drought periods, with the exception of B. decumbens, for which, the higher dose was more effective; in the greenhouse tests, both doses of this herbicide showed an excellent control of E. heterophylla and B. decumbens without influence of the drought periods. Furthermore, the control of P. maximum and I. triloba in the extended periods of drought was more effective when the higher dose was used. With the exception of B. decumbens, isoxaflutole was not effective for the control of the tested weed species in both field and greenhouse. In addition, the control of the grasses species was only effective when shorter drought periods were applied and not effective for all tested broad leaves. The residual activity of imazapic was affected by the drought periods in different experiments, except for I. triloba in the field experiments and B. decumbens in the absence of drought periods when applied upon straw cover. The control of E. heterophylla by clomazone+hexazinone was influenced by the drought periods and showed a decrease in the residual activity along with the evaluations. This herbicide was effective in the field for the control of I. triloba and B. decumbens independently of the drought periods. However, in the greenhouse experiment, the drought periods significantly affect its performance and residual activity.

Biosynthesis of milk conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a component of milk fat with demonstrated health benefits, requires a dietary source of PUFA. Even with PUFA supplementation, milk CLA is highly variable. Therefore, this study was aimed at identifying factors responsible for the variations in rumen CLA precursors and milk CLA. Study 1 evaluated the efficiency of CLA production by grazing cows compared to those fed grass silage or fresh grass. Grazing cows were more efficient than those fed grass silage or fresh grass in milk CLA production. About 75% of the variability in milk CLA was related to the differences in PUFA (l8:2n-6 + 18:3n-3) intake and the remainder was related to factors regulating the extent of PUFA biohydrogenation in the rumen. This study demonstrated that PUFA intake is important but it is not the only factor responsible for the observed variation in milk CLA production. Study 2 evaluated the effect of diets differing in rate of starch degradation on rumen PUFA biohydrogenation and milk CLA. Concentrations of ruminal t11-18:1 and milk CLA were greater for barley-based diets than corn-based diets and were not different between rolling and grinding, indicating that factors inherent in the source of starch were responsible for the observed differences and these factors could not be modified by rolling or grinding the grain. Study 3 examined the effect of stage of lactation on persistency of milk t10-18:1, t11-18:1 and CLA for control and test (supplemented with PUFA and monensin) diets from calving to 270 days in milk. Milk concentrations of t11-18:1 and RA remained similar across the lactation length and were greater for the test diet compared to the control. Changes in milk t10-18:1 concentration during lactation appeared to reflect an effect of the degree of rumen fermentation on PUFA biohydrogenating bacteria. Although PUFA intake is important for milk CLA production, only those diets that give rise to increased ruminal t11-18:1 result in greater milk CLA. Concentrations of rumen t11-18:1 is influenced by the amount of PUFA consumed, degree of shift to t10-18:1 and the extent of PUFA biohydrogenation in the rumen. / Animal Science