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Sustainability in livestock production system is largely affected by climate change. An imbalance between metabolic heat production inside the animal body and its dissipation to the surroundings results to heat stress (HS) under high air temperature and humid climates. The foremost reaction of animals under thermal weather is increases in respiration rate, rectal temperature and heart rate. It directly affect feed intake thereby, reduces growth rate, milk yield, reproductive performance, and even death in extreme cases. Dairy breeds are typically more sensitive to HS than meat breeds, and higher producing animals are, furthermore, susceptible since they generates more metabolic heat. HS suppresses the immune and endocrine system thereby enhances susceptibility of an animal to various diseases. Hence, sustainable dairy farming remains a vast challenge in these changing climatic conditions globally.

The present study was aimed to investigate the relationship of udder shape, teat-end shape, teat length, and teat diameter with intra-mammary infection in Jersey crossbred cows under hot-humid climate. A total of 24 lactating Jersey crossbred cows were evaluated for udder shape (pendulous/regular) and teat-end shape (flat/inverted/pointed) by visual examination, while teat length and teat diameter were measured using vernier caliper. Monthly milk sampling was done for 4 months of duration. Few quarters were found as blind or non-functional and so, a total of 366 quarter wise milk samples were collected at the monthly interval and subjected to somatic cell count (SCC) microscopically. The data on SCC were transformed into log scale and analyzed. There was a significant (p<0.01) effect of udder shape and teat-end shape on SCC level. The mean SCC level for pendulous udder was significantly (p<0.05) higher as compared to the regular shaped udder. Similarly, significantly (p<0.05) a higher level of mean SCC was found in flat teat-end shape. A significant (p<0.01) correlation was found between SCC and teat length as well as teat diameter. In conclusion, pendulous udder, flat and inverted teat-end, very long and thick teat were more susceptible to intra-mammary infection in Jersey crossbred cows and these traits must be considered accordingly while selecting dairy animals for future milk production.

This study was conducted to find out the relationship of prepartum udder and teat measurements with subsequent milk production traits in primiparous Nili-Ravi buffaloes. A total of 12 Nili-Ravi buffalo heifers were selected from Buffalo Farm, Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Regional Station- Bir Dosanjh, Nabha, Patiala, Punjab. The udder length (UL), udder width (UW), udder depth, teat length (TL), teat diameter (TD), and teat distances were measured at fortnightly interval from 60 days prepartum until calving. After calving, 60 days total milk yield (TDMY), peak yield (PY), and days taken to attain PY (DPY) were also recorded. The correlation coefficients of various prepartum udder and teat measurements since 60 days prepartum to calving with 60 days TDMY, PY, and DPY were calculated to find out the relationship between the traits in primiparous Nili-Ravi buffaloes. The result envisaged that all udder and teat measurements were increased gradually toward the date of calving in primiparous buffaloes. The UL, UW, left fore (LF) and right rear (RR)TL, RRTD, and the distance between LF to left rear (LR) teat were positively correlated with 60 days TDMY. The UL and UW depicted positive but nonsignificant correlation with PY. Fore TLs showed positive correlation where as TDs and teat distances had a negative correlation with the DPY in primiparous Nili-Ravi buffaloes. It was concluded that milk production performance could be assessed on the basis of prepartum udder and teat measurements in primiparous Nili-Ravi buffaloes.

The objective of this study was to optimize dry period (DP) length that can maximize the production across adjacent lactations and overall lifetime yield. Performance records with respect to DP spread over a period of 15-year in Karan Fries (KF) cattle maintained at Livestock Research Centre (National Dairy Research Institute), were collected for the study. Data of 681 KF cows were analyzed by least square technique to examine the effect of non-genetic factors on DP. Season of calving was classified into four seasons: Winter season (December-March), summer season (April-June), rainy season (July-September), and autumn season (October-November); period of calving into five periods: 1998-2000 (1-period), 2001-2003 (II-period), 2004-2006 (III-period), 2007-2009 (IV-period), and 2010-2012 (V-period), and parity into six parities, i.e., 1(st), 2(nd), 3(rd), 4(th), 5(th), and >6(th) parities to see the effect of non-genetic factors on DP. Period of calving, season of calving, and parity did not affect the DP significantly (p<0.05). The overall least square mean of DP was 67.93±2.12 days. For the optimization of DP with regard to milk productivity, analysis was carried out by class interval method. DP was classified into eight classes (<22, 23-45, 46-67, 68-89, 90-111, 112-133, 134-155, and >156 days), and optimum level was obtained at 46-67 days (3(rd) class) with the following respective milk yield (MY) of 305 daily MY (4016.44±43.68 kg), total MY (4704.21±61.51 kg), MY per day of lactation length (13.03±0.13 kg), and MY per day of calving interval (11.68±0.41 kg). From the study, it was concluded that this optimal DP length (46-67 days) is suitable for maximizing the production. Hence, one should aim to dry off pregnant cows to achieve a DP of appropriate length to enhance productivity in the next lactation, as very short and very long DP reduces the economic profitability in dairy animals.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of infrared lamps to ameliorate cold stress in Vrindavani (Holstein Friesian × Brown Swiss × Jersey × Hariana) calves. For the present investigation, ten newborn Vrindavani calves were randomly divided into two groups (G1 and G2) of five each. The experiment was conducted from 2(nd) November to 8(th) February when the environmental temperature was at the lowest. The calves of G1 were provided with no additional protection while the calves of G2 were protected against the cold weather by providing heat using the infrared lamps. The body weight (kg) of the calves was recorded at weekly interval. The blood samples collected within 6 h of birth and then at fortnightly interval were analyzed for packed cell volume (PCV, %), hemoglobin (Hb, g/dl). Besides, the serum biochemical parameters, viz., Total serum protein (TSP, g/l), albumin (g/l), globulin (g/l), albumin globulin ratio (A:G) and important stress parameters, viz., triiodothyronine (T3, ng/ml), thyroxine (T4, ng/ml) and cortisol (ng/ml) were also estimated. The calves of G2 showed higher body weight gain as compared to G1. The differences were found to be highly significant (p<0.01). The calves in G1 showed comparatively higher values of PCV and Hb and the differences were found to be significant (p<0.05) on 45(th) day for PCV and highly significant (p<0.01) on 60(th) day for PCV and on 45(th) day for Hb. The values of TSP and albumin were comparatively higher in calves of G1 as compared to G2 and the differences were highly significant (p<0.01) on 45(th) day for both TSP and albumin and significant (p<0.05) on 60(th) day for albumin. Significantly (p<0.01) higher values of cortisol and T4 were observed on 15 and 45(th) day in calves of G1 as compared to G2. The T3 levels were also found higher in calves of G1 than G2 and the differences were significant (p<0.05) on 15 and 30(th) day and highly significant (p<0.01) on 45(th) day of the study. Based on the results, it could be concluded that the infrared lamps are efficient in providing favorable microclimate and hence can be effectively used in calf shed to protect newborn calves from adverse conditions of winter and to improve their body growth performance.

The raw milk quality has increasing importance for producer and consumer as it is directly related to processing, production and price. The aim of present study was to determine the relationship among intramammary infection (IMI) and raw milk parameters in Jersey crossbred cows. Total 24 lactating Jersey crossbred cows were randomly selected and representative animal wise morning milk samples were collected in monthly interval for four month. The level of somatic cell count (SCC) and milk parameters (fat (%), solid non-fat (%) and pH) was estimated from the collected sample. Test day milk yield for individual animals was also recorded and then the data obtained were statistically analyzed. A significant (P<0.01) negative correlation of Log^sub 10^SCC with test day milk yield, fat and SNF percentage was found, while, milk pH was highly positive correlated with Log^sub 10^SCC in milk. The mean±SE values of milk yield, fat and SNF were significantly (P<0.01) lower in subclinical infected group except for SCC and pH, which were higher in subclinical infected group. It can be concluded that IMI and higher SCC adversely affect the milk production and raw milk quality parameters and these parameters can be used as useful indicator as complimentary to SCC to monitor udder health and for early diagnosis of subclinical mastitis at dairy farm.

Purpose This study aims to examine the trends and themes in the field of customer experience using a bibliometric analysis between 1957 and 2017. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses 1,767 papers selected from Web of Science (WoS) database using VOS Viewer software tool to create bibliometric networks. The results of the study were classified under the following bibliometric indicators: evaluation of the number of studies analyzed; most cited documents; most influential authors; and highly influential journals, institutions and countries with the highest productivity. Additionally, the paper also presents three co-citation studies analyzing most co-cited references, first authors and journals. Findings Authors and institutes from the American and European countries dominate the contribution to the development of the field. The presence of Asian countries signifies the rising importance being given to the research field. The findings establish the argument that most of the ideas that follow today in the development of the field are mostly sourced from the works published in highly reputed journals. Co-citation analysis indicates the presence of multi-disciplinarity in the research field with journals representing different research areas such as management, strategy and psychology. Research limitations/implications The papers analyzed in the study were retrieved only from the WoS. Furthermore, the precise number of clusters obtained during the analysis depends on the parameter set by the authors which is subjective. Researchers are encouraged to draw further insights by manipulating the parameter criteria. Practical implications The findings in the study can be used to enrich the understanding of customer experience and future research on the topic. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first comprehensive papers offering a general overview of the leading trends in the field over a period of 60 years.

This study uses the approach-avoidance theory to investigate the impact of the atmospherics of a social commerce page, which comprises page aesthetics and page interaction. The study looks at how a digital influencer's perceived influence affects a customer's purchase intention. The research also examines whether perceived risk influences customers' purchase intent. Four hundred twenty-eight customers who had recently engaged with a social commerce page were empirically surveyed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The research shows that page atmospherics and digital influencers do influence a customer's purchase intention through emotions and cognition in social commerce. Emotions and purchase intentions, as well as cognition and purchase intentions, are moderated by perceived risk. The findings have implications for marketers who want to develop customer engagement strategies based on social commerce platforms.

Short term traffic forecasting is one of the important fields of study in the transportation domain. Short term traffic forecasting is very useful to develop a more advanced transportation system to control traffic signals and avoid congestions. Several studies have made efforts for short term traffic flow forecasting for divided and undivided highways across the world. However, all these studies relied on the dataset which are greatly varied between countries due to the technology used for transportation data collection. India is a developing country in which efforts are being done to improve the transportation system to avoid congestion and travel time. Two-lane undivided highways with mixed traffic constitute a large portion of Indian road network. This study is an attempt to develop a short term traffic forecasting model using back propagation artificial neural network for two lane undivided highway with mixed traffic conditions in India. The results were compared with random forest, support vector machine, k-nearest neighbor classifier, regression tree and multiple regression models. It was found that back-propagation neural network performs better than other approaches and achieved an R 2 value 0.9962, which is a good score.

ObjectivesHealthcare personnel (HCP) are at an increased risk of acquiring COVID-19 infection especially in resource-restricted healthcare settings, and return to homes unfit for self-isolation, making them apprehensive about COVID-19 duty and transmission risk to their families. We aimed at implementing a novel multidimensional HCP-centric evidence-based, dynamic policy with the objectives to reduce risk of HCP infection, ensure welfare and safety of the HCP and to improve willingness to accept and return to duty.SettingOur tertiary care university hospital, with 12 600 HCP, was divided into high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk zones. In the high-risk and medium-risk zones, we organised training, logistic support, postduty HCP welfare and collected feedback, and sent them home after they tested negative for COVID-19. We supervised use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and kept communication paperless.ParticipantsWe recruited willing low-risk HCP, aged <50 years, with no comorbidities to work in COVID-19 zones. Social distancing, hand hygiene and universal masking were advocated in the low-risk zone.ResultsBetween 31 March and 20 July 2020, we clinically screened 5553 outpatients, of whom 3012 (54.2%) were COVID-19 suspects managed in the medium-risk zone. Among them, 346 (11.4%) tested COVID-19 positive (57.2% male) and were managed in the high-risk zone with 19 (5.4%) deaths. One (0.08%) of the 1224 HCP in high-risk zone, 6 (0.62%) of 960 HCP in medium-risk zone and 23 (0.18%) of the 12 600 HCP in the low-risk zone tested positive at the end of shift. All the 30 COVID-19-positive HCP have since recovered. This HCP-centric policy resulted in low transmission rates (<1%), ensured satisfaction with training (92%), PPE (90.8%), medical and psychosocial support (79%) and improved acceptance of COVID-19 duty with 54.7% volunteering for re-deployment.ConclusionA multidimensional HCP-centric policy was effective in ensuring safety, satisfaction and welfare of HCP in a resource-poor setting and resulted in a willing workforce to fight the pandemic.