bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
340 Training cognitive skills to improve integration and application of knowledge in animal physiology
Authors: Stucke Rachael M , Vautier Allison N , Enns Kellie , Cadaret Caitlin N 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Case-based learning immerses students in real-world scenarios, prompting observation, action, and reflection to enhance cognitive skills. The open-ended nature of such learning can challenge students to reach greater levels of critical thinking; however, we have noticed that without guidance, students often do not know how to approach these types of questions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate how two low-input interventions strategies may help train cognitive skills and improve student performance. Three semesters of an undergraduate physiology course employed a case-based assessment strategy, which included three-unit case studies and one cumulative final case study. Semester 1 (S1; n = 48) represented no intervention, Semester 2 (S2; n = 59) included two dedicated class periods of instructor led guidance on approaching case studies, and Semester 3 (S3; n = 95) utilized an online peer evaluation platform, where students evaluated and provided feedback to each other. For S2 and S3 the interventions first took place between case study 1and case study 2. In all semesters, students also received individualized feedback from the instructor or teaching assistants after each case study. In S2 and S3 pre-semester and post-semester surveys were administered to understand changes in perceptions of their own cognitive skills. In S2 and S3, case study grades decreased and increased (P &lt; 0.05), respectively, between the first and second case study. The average grade on case studies after intervention was greatest (P &lt; 0.05) in S3 where peer intervention was employed, compared with S1 or S2, which did not differ. When comparing changes in perceptions between the beginning and end of the semester, student confidence in their cognitive skills, determined by agreeance with Likert scale statements, tended to increase more (P &lt; 0.10) in S3 compared with S2 (7.9% vs. 3.4%, respectively). The most notable change was agreeance with the statement “I can take multiple ideas from different concepts and combine them to create new understanding” which increased 7.0% and 16.5% in S2 and S3, respectively. Interestingly, free response questions indicated that students did not enjoy peer evaluation and felt that it was not beneficial to their learning. However, these data indicate that students benefited most from peer led intervention, when evaluated by student performance and perceptions of their cognitive skills. Peer evaluation provides a unique opportunity for students to actively engage in the learning process and to practice cognitive skills. This process holds dual benefit as reviewing peers requires students to reflect, analyze, and evaluate, which are cognitive skills also needed to solve the case studies.
414 Design thinking for engaged learning (DTEL) in animal science: Data-driven considerations to improve student and instructor experiences
Authors: Brandão Alice P , Dunlap Kathrin , Wiegert Jeffrey , Paudyal Sushil 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Design thinking for engaged learning (DTEL) is a framework developed to structure learning experiences based on collaborative project-based instruction and to engage students in creative problem solving. Despite being successful in providing meaningful learning experiences, the logistics of DTEL implementation can be difficult, especially in large courses (100+ students). Research is warranted to elucidate and facilitate DTEL utilization in different disciplines. Based on this, the present study utilized a design-based research approach involving 5 semesters of implementing DTEL in an animal science capstone course. Briefly, the main learning objectives of the course were for students to develop skills in collaborative work, independent research, communication (written and oral) and, especially, to be able to demonstrate transferrable knowledge from their previous coursework. Across 5 semesters (spring 2021 to spring 2023), student reflections assignments (n = 276) were coded and analyzed qualitatively to identify aspects that worked well or that students struggled with. Network analysis was utilized to visualize relationships (P &lt; 0.05; Q &gt; 0.4) between codes representing strengths, struggles, and alignment with principles from learning theories. Utilizing the relationships between strengths and theory-based principles to address struggles, resulted in changes to the design of the capstone course each semester, consecutively. Alignment of student experiences with principles from learning theories grew from the first semester to the last (theory-related nodes representing 11.4% vs. 24.4% in each network map, respectively), with learning theories also occupying more central positions in the map resulting from the last semester analysis (spring 2023) compared with earlier ones (spring 2021 through fall 2022). These changes suggest student experiences increasingly aligned with principles of cognitive constructivism, social constructivism, constructionism, situated learning, and transformative learning. Additionally, the analysis of students’ reflections throughout these 5 semesters of animal science senior capstone resulted in generalizable design principles to facilitate the implementation of DTEL in other animal science courses, especially in large class sizes (100+ students). The design principles derived from this 5-semester study include: 1) allocating most time to hands-on lab work versus lecture, 2) designating a coordinator faculty, 3) scaffolding for instructors unfamiliar with DTEL, 4) emphasizing consistency in processes over grades, and 5) intentionally developing teamwork skills. The study demonstrates the value of design-based research for iteratively refining and studying learning experiences to foster critical skills for undergraduate students in animal science.
410 Preparing yourself, or your students, for a career in the animal science industries
Authors: Elrod Charles C 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Preparing yourself, or your students, for a career in Animal Science related industries may seem to require a crystal ball. As important as the specific knowledge might seem, the animal science students of tomorrow will need skills, perspective, an open mindset, the ability to think critically and a desire to be a problem solver. Careers going forward will reward the polymaths who are adaptable and resilient. Experiential training, a hallmark of animal science teaching in recent decades, should, in future, cross three domains: research, animal management and work. Experience in identifying pertinent research questions, forming hypotheses, a plan to test them and skills to analyze the results will be crucial to solving livestock-related challenges of the future. Living the day-to-day experience of a livestock producer will create graduates who are better grounded in and empathetic to the reality of livestock management. And lastly, internships can provide great insight into the demands of, and varied skills required to succeed in, the workplace. Our curricula for the animal science employee of the future should have depth and a great deal of breadth. Excellent understanding of the basic sciences: chemistry, biology, physiology, microbiology, is a given in order that employees can grasp the ever-deeper level of knowledge we have of animal-based systems. In our view, careers of the future will also require working knowledge of a wide swath of disciplines. Students should recognize the increasing likelihood that they may work in a small, entrepreneurial business at some point in their career. In addition to their animal science expertise, they may be called upon to contribute to initiatives in marketing, finance, innovation, global trade, data analytics, communications, One Health, compliance, sustainability or business ethics, to name a few. At the risk of being labeled as a “jack of all trades and master of none”, the animal science employee of the future will need multiple skillsets, the flexibility to draw on all of them and the willingness to step up and contribute to the success of their employer.
PSII-4 How to define good mothering ability using computer vision of free farrowing sows?
Authors: Lei Huaigang , van der Zande Lisette , Grindflek Eli , Hildebrand Madison , Dallago Gabriel 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
In modern swine production, most of the sows are housed in a cage system in the farrowing unit. Although this system is intended to reduce preweaning mortality, the welfare of the sow might be compromised as it greatly restricts their natural behavior. Free farrowing systems allow sows to move around in the farrowing pen, which might stimulate their nesting behavior, shorten the farrowing duration and improve locomotion score, therefore, optimizing the longevity of the sows. However, the risk of increased preweaning mortality in free farrowing systems is greater compared with cage systems. Previous studies suggested that sow behavior, also known as mothering ability, can influence preweaning mortality as an increased level of posture changes could lead to increased mortality. With grunts, a sow could initiate the suckling of the piglets but also terminate it by hiding her udder from the piglets. However, there is conflicting evidence on what characteristics of maternal ability are correlated with piglet mortality, and most studies relied on limited manual observations, which might be biased. Using computer vision algorithms, the behavior and the movement pattern of a large number of sows could be monitored at a high density and on a continuous basis. Hence, this study intended to investigate the mothering ability of sows in free farrowing systems based on large quantities and unbiased observations using computer vision. Forty cameras were installed above free farrowing pens to observe the behavior of the sow. The dataset is continuously growing and will add data of 8 sows every week, totaling 416 sows on a yearly basis. The performance of the sows and their piglets are recorded, including body weight (BW), backfat, total number born, number weaned, birth weight, and weaning weight. Computer vision algorithms (YOLO) will be trained to estimate the contour and posture of the sow and the position of the piglets. Preliminary results based on a small subset of animals showed that the algorithm is able to detect the sows and their postures accurately, and it is now being extended to detect piglet locations. This will allow us to find beneficial behavior of sow and piglets, estimate genetic parameters for potential implementation in breeding programs, and eventually improve sow performance in a welfare-friendly free farrowing system.
PSVII-3 Genome-wide association study for first-lactation fertility traits in dairy cattle
Authors: Seto Desiree , Chen Kevin , Campos Fernando , Peterson Dan , Sargolzaei Mehdi , Anderson Paul , Abo-Ismail Mohammed 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Infertility has been a leading cause of economic loss for the dairy industry. It accounts for a total net loss of $259 per poor fertility cow per year compared with a cow with optimal fertility due to decreased milk production, non-pregnant cows, the inability to sell calves, wasted AI, and management costs. Thus, the goal of this study was to perform genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), genes, and biological pathways associated with age at first calving (AFC), calving ease (EASE) and interval from calving to first time bred (CFSI), and of first-lactation cow. The GWAS was performed on medium (100k SNPs) and high-density (700k SNPs) SNP panels on 2,121 Holstein and Jersey cows from three dairy herds in California. For each trait, univariate single SNP mixed model association analysis, implemented in GCTA software, was performed including breed and herd year interaction as fixed effects and the animal as random effect. The SNP was declared significant at a 5% false discovery rate (FDR) and on a suggestive level of significance for the top 100 significant. Two SNPs on chromosomes 18 and 21 were detected significant at 5% FDR for CFSI. Chromosomes 3, 10, 18, and 25, were found to hold associated regions from 100K. In-silico functional analyses were performed on the mapped genes using DAVID software to identify associated biological mechanisms and pathways. The enriched biological pathways were found to be regulation of plasma membrane organization (P = 0.016) for AFC, regulation of blood circulation (P = 0.03) for CFSI, and chemotaxis (P = 0.004) for EASE. The plasma membrane contains specialized domains abundant in sterols, a component previously shown to allow sperm to fertilize. Establishing blood flow to the reproductive tract is vital as it is the sole pathway of nutrient transport, and increasing blood circulation is needed to support fetal growth. A previous study confirmed a link between chemotactic activity of placental tissue and placental expulsion. These results will be further validated in relatively unrelated populations.
PSVII-4 A novel deletion in exon 3 of the myostatin (MSTN) gene is identified in a Raramuri criollo cattle herd
Authors: Rodríguez-Almeida Felipe A , Floriano-López Adriana , Martinez-Quintana Jose A A , Sifuentes-Rincón Ana M A , Felix-Portillo Monserrath , Jahuey-Martínez Francisco Joel , Sandoval-Villalobos Jesús , de la Cruz Gilberto Ruiz- 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Several polymorphisms in the coding region of the myostatin (MSTN) gene have been associated with the double-muscled (DM) phenotype in different species. An experimental herd of purebred Raramuri criollo cattle in Chihuahua, Mexico, has been selectively managed for beef production during the last 15 yr. Recently, two calves where visually identified as DM animals. The aim of this study was to identify changes in the MSTN gene sequence, associated with the two DM individuals and to screen for carriers of the potential polymorphisms within this herd. The DM paternity of the calves was verified by the SeekSire bovine parentage testing of NEOGEN (Lincoln, NE). A 6.6 Kb fragment of the MSTN gene were amplified by PCR and sequenced using Illumina DNA prep kit in a MiniSeq platform. The resulting reads were analyzed using different bioinformatic programs. SNPs were generated in VCF files and filtered by the following criteria: variant confidence normalized by depth of variant samples (QD) &lt; 2.0, mapping quality (MQ) &lt; 40.0, strand bias(FS) &gt; 60.0. The deduced myostatin protein and the three-dimensional model were obtained with bioinformatic tools. Once a novel variant was identified, a real-time PCR protocol was developed to genotype 100 and 97 herdmates, the allelic and genotypic frequencies were estimated. A 9-bp deletion was identified at the same position as the 11-bp deletion (g.821to 831del11) of the Belgian Blue MSTN allele (Figure 1). Although the latter allele has been found in three Spanish cattle breeds ancestrally related to Raramuri criollo, this is the first report of the 9-bp deletion in the MSTN gene. Such deletion results in the loss of three highly conserved amino acids residues (274, 275 and 276) in MSTN, but does not lead to a premature stop codon as in the case of the 11-bp deletion characteristic to DM Belgian Blue. The in silico three-dimensional MSTN conformation obtained for this allele has some structural differences compared with the protein reference model. The allelic frequencies were 0.85 and 0.15 for the MSTN+ and MSTNdel alleles, respectively, whereas the genotypic frequencies were 0.71, 0.01 and 0.28 for MSTN+/MSTN+, MSTNdel/MSTNdel MSTN+/MSTNdel genotypes, respectively. Controlled mattings to generate different genotypes in the research herd would allow to continue studying the effects of this MSTN gene variant on productive performance, forage behavior, husbandry and carcass and meat quality traits known to be affected by the DM phenotype in beef cattle.
PSVII-8 Survival analyses of the productive life in U.S. Katahdin ewes
Authors: Pinto Luis F B , Lewis Ronald M , Rocha Artur O , Nilson Sara M , Murphy Tom W , Wilson Carrie S , Freking Brad A , Burke Joan M , Brito Luiz F 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Ewe productive life (PL), defined as the number of days between the first and last lambing, is a common indicator of longevity. This study aimed to analyze the PL of 10,276 Katahdin ewes, of which 69.3% were uncensored and 30.7% were right-censored records. Ewes were daughters of 1,188 sires and 6,312 dams, born between 1989 and 2021 in 58 flocks located across the U.S., and the National Sheep Improvement Program provided the data. Ewes with lambing interval and age at first lambing greater than 720 d and 1,095 d, respectively, were excluded. Moreover, flocks that did not report lambing records across at least 7 consecutive years or did not have an average of 20 or more lambing records over the year were also left out of the analyses. Survival functions were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meyer (KM) and Cox models, while the Hazard function was analyzed using the Cox model. For the Cox model, contemporary group (concatenation of flock, year, and season of ewe’s birth) was fitted as a random effect; the ewe’s BR class (combined effect of birth/rearing types: 1/1, 2/1, 2/2, 3/2, 3/3, with digit-3 including counts ≥ 3), ewe’s age class at first lambing (≤ 378d; 379 to 700d; and &gt; 700 d), and the ewe’s dam’s age class (A: &lt; 713 d; B: 713 to 1,486 d; C: &gt; 1486 d) were fitted as fixed effects. All survival analyses were performed using the Survival R-package. All factors included in the Cox model were highly significant (P &lt; 0.001), except dam age class (P &gt; 0.05). The proportional hazard assumption was checked using a graphical diagnostic based on the scaled Schoenfeld residuals, and there was no failure in the assumption. Moreover, there was no evidence of influential or outlier records in the graphical analysis of the residuals. The Cox survival curve overlapped with the KM survival curve (Figure 1), indicating a good survival prediction with the Cox model. The median PL was 1,036 d (95%CI: 1001 to 1,056 d) with the KM model and 1,056 d (95%CI: 984 to 1,078 d) with the Cox model. The hazard ratio indicated BR levels 2/2 and 3/3 showed less hazards than group 1/1 (Figure 2), and thereby longer PL; no significant difference was observed between 1/1 and the other two levels (2/1 and 2/3). Ewes that first lambed before 378 d had less hazard than those with the first lambing after this age (Figure 2). There was no significant difference between the dam age classes. In conclusion, over 50% of Katahdin sheep have less than 3 yr PL. Moreover, U.S. Katahdin ewes born from larger litters and having the first lambing before 378 d are likelier to have a greater PL.
PSX-9 Comparison of single- and multiple-trait genomic predictions of cattle carcass quality traits in multibreed and purebred populations
Authors: Peters Sunday O , Kizilkaya Kadir , Garrick Dorian , Reecy James 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Estimation of genetic parameters for carcass traits and their use in the evaluation of carcass quality is of considerable importance in the genetic improvement of beef cattle. The objective of this study was to compare the predictive ability of single- and multi-trait genomic prediction models for the following carcass quality traits: hot carcass weight (HCW); fat thickness (FAT); rib eye area (REA); marbling score (MARB); and peak force (PEAKF) from multibreed and purebred populations. The purebred population included 1,068 purebred Angus animals from Iowa State University whereas the multibreed population consisted of 887 animals sired by 1 of 8 purebreds (209 Angus-, 10 Brahman-, 182 Charolais-, 76 Hereford-, 44 Limousin-, 136 Maine-Anjou-, 96 Shorthorn-, and 134 South Devon- sired offspring) from the Carcass Merit Project funded by the US beef cattle industry to evaluate the genetic prediction of tenderness. After quality control of SNP markers generated with Illumina v1 50K BeadChips, 33,718 SNP markers from were used to obtain heritability and genetic correlation estimates between traits separately in either the multibreed or purebred populations. Genotyped individuals were randomly clustered into 10 groups for cross-fold validation to quantify the correlations between and predicted performance (without the individual’s data) and the realized phenotype of the individual from single- or multi-trait genomic prediction in the multibreed and purebred populations. Heritability estimates of traits from multi-trait analyses ranged from 0.42 to 0.61 in multibreed population and from 0.24 to 0.44 in the purebred population, whereas the single trait values were 0.30 to 0.53 in multibreed, and 0.23 to 0.42 in the purebred population. Estimates were greater in the multibreed population compared with the purebred population (Table 1). Compared with the single-trait analyses, multi-trait analyses resulted in higher heritability estimates for FAT, REA and PEAKF traits in the purebred population and for HCW, REA, MARB and PEAKF traits in multibreed population. Genetic correlations from multi-trait analyses indicated the genetic association between traits. In testing data sets, correlations between observed and predicted phenotypes from single-trait analyses were 4- to 7-fold greater in purebred than in the multibreed population (Table 2). These results may be due to the greater genomic relationship expected in purebred than in the multibreed population. However, the multi-trait analyses resulted in a considerable increase in correlations between observed and predicted values in multibreed population due to genetic correlations between traits.