 Introduction
In this edition, we once again have a wide range of news facts for you. Firstly, there are several changes in personnel worth mentioning, including the leaving of our employee Jesse van den Kieboom and the employment of Niels Stoelinga at ZooEasy. Also with regard to ZooEasy Online there are various new developments concerning new corporate clients and the development of the latest version. In addition, we will provide you with an explanation of the inbreeding calculation in ZooEasy, based on information we have received from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. Lastly, we will inform you of upcoming ZooEasy version 9, including the new functionality and options of this version. As usual, you will also find our fixed sections on tips & tricks and calendar of the upcoming period in this newsletter.
Change of Personnel
After working for ZooEasy for four years as a software developer, Jesse van den Kieboom will be leaving the ZooEasy team on the first of July. After finishing a Master’s degree in Switzerland, Jesse will now continue to work in Switzerland as part of his PhD program. To replace Jesse, Niels Stoelinga began working for ZooEasy several months ago.
Introducing
 Name: Niels Stoelinga
Age: 20
Position: Software developer
“Currently I am in the 4th year of my Electrical Engineering course at the “Noordelijke Hogeschool” in the city of Leeuwarden. As part of this, I have specialized in Technical Information Sciences for half a year and I am now graduating in the area of Industrial Automation. Throughout this course, I have acquired extensive knowledge on the ins and outs of programming. This knowledge I can apply well to my work at ZooEasy! For almost 2 months now, I work at ZooEasy as a software developer. At the moment, I am working on version 9 of the stand-alone package and I am responsible for keeping the website up to date. In addition, I also carry out occasional other tasks for the ZooEasy Online package. Because of the interesting tasks and the tremendous flexibility this is the perfect part-time job for me!”
ZooEasy Online Developments
 The ZooEasy Online product for the corporate market is continually further developed and is now broadly offered in the market of animal associations, clubs, herd books and other organizations. With ZooEasy Online, commercial animal organizations with multiple users have simultaneous access to a central, online database of animal data.
Overall, the number of ZooEasy Online users is rapidly increasing. Worthy of mention is also the reaching of a significant milestone for ZooEasy Online: At this time, 150.000 animals have been registered in the online database. The associations, clubs and organizations currently using the program are all very satisfied and express positive reactions. However, some functionality that will simplify the use of the program is still missing. The upcoming period we will therefore be working on making these improvements. Different dog associations and clubs such as, amongst others, the Dutch Association of Stabij and Wetterhouns (NVSW), the Dutch association of Vizsla’s, Boerboel International and the Dutch Schnauzer club currently use ZooEasy Online. In addition, also other organizations have joined, such as the National Dutch Landrace Goat Society and The Dutch “Mooi Gelderland” organization, an organization created for the maintenance of heritage from the Dutch province of Gelderland such as traditional animal breeds. The upcoming months, we will direct our attention to target groups consisting of dog, goat and sheep associations and clubs. Development latest version
At this time, the new Results module for ZooEasy Online has been taken into production. With this module, users will be able to record a broad range of shows, competitions, evaluations and examinations in the online database. In the meantime, a start is also made on a new ZooEasy Online version (version 1.5.00). In this version attention is mostly directed at entry checks and improving the overall user friendliness of the program
Additional explanation of the relationship and inbreeding calculation
The information below has been provided by dr. Piter Bijma of Wageningen University (www.wur.nl), The Netherlands. As a result of continuous inbreeding, the relationship between two animals can end up above 100%. The following section explains how this is possible. Animals that are completely free from inbreeding have an inbreeding percentage of 0% and a relationship of 100% with themselves. Such an animal has two different genes, for example A and B. It then has 50% of the genes from the father (A) and 50% of the genes from the mother (B). The resemblance of a non-inbred animal such as AB with itself defines the benchmark for a relationship of 100%. The animal free from inbreeding, AB, resembles itself but less than a completely inbred animal (AA) resembles itself. For example, if a gene is taken randomly twice from the AB animal, in 50% of the cases two genes are the same (25%AA + 25%BB = 50% the same), while for the AA-animal this always becomes two AA genes. In other words, 100% the same. Now imagine that the animal free from inbreeding is cloned (exactly duplicated, striking cuttings as if it were a plant). The relationship between two AB-clones is the same as the relationship of an AB-animal with itself. In a relationship matrix, the relationship between the cloned animals would amount to 100%. When a completely inbred animal is cloned, two AA-animals are created. These resemble each other twice as much as the two AB-animals, therefore their relationship amounts to 200%. Strictly speaking, relationship is therefore a measure for: “agreement between two animals with regard to the relationship of animals free from inbreeding with themselves”. This measure is set at 100%. If a breeder begins with animals completely free from inbreeding and subsequently creates 10 or more generations of brother-sister pairings, then this breeder obtains a population that is almost 100% AA or 100% BB. All animals from the 10th generation are then genetically equal. The inbreeding percentage has thereby become 100% and the relationship degree between the animals is 200%. This means that animals from this breeder (genetically speaking!) resemble each other twice as much as an animal free from inbreeding resembles itself. (an AB- animal). The relationship is thus expressed with regard to animals free from inbreeding!
ZooEasy stand-alone version 9
At the end of 2009, a new version of ZooEasy stand-alone will be released; namely version 9. In this version, different improvements have been applied that make the program more extensive and user friendly. A summary of what’s new in version 9:
- The sorting of each list can be modified. This sorting is stored and is used again each next time a list is retrieved. This makes it possible to, for example, always sort the list of animals by date of birth instead of the registration number of the animal.
- In the relationship matrix, a trial pedigree can be retrieved of each calculated relationship of the male and female animal. Hereby, quick insight is gained into what the pedigree would be of the pairing considered.
- An overview can be printed of the average increase or decrease of the inbreeding percentage and the relationship. This allows insight to be gained into how these percentages have developed over a certain period. This calculation can be carried out for, for example, a certain breed but also for a certain bloodline.
- Graphic overviews can be created of populations. Hereby pie or bar diagrams can be compiled in which scores become visible of for example:
* The percentage of male and female animals
* The division of male and female animals with a certain color or medical data.
* Scores divided per breed by male and female animals.
The possibilities with regard to the last point will become very diverse. It is particularly the intention to allow population studies to be carried out.
Tips & Tricks
Error message 339: an ocx component is incorrectly registered
Suddenly, error message 339 can be given. The program no longer works because a certain component is not (or no longer) properly registered. This error can occur as a result of the removal of a previous version or the cleaning up of settings by rigidly configured cleanup software. This problem can simply be solved by reinstalling the entire program. The entered data will always be retained with a reinstallation. It is therefore not necessary to create a backup when this error occurs. Installing ZooEasy on multiple PCs
Nowadays, at least one PC can be found in most households. More often, the breeder also has access to a laptop in addition to a desktop computer, on which ZooEasy is also installed. Merely copying the database and/or ZooEasy folder from the old to the new PC is insufficient. If you install ZooEasy on a second computer, you need to follow the entire installation process as this is offered via installation from CD or via Internet. Installing ZooEasy on a network
Since the release of version 8, it is possible to install ZooEasy on a network. Working simultaneously with multiple people in the database is not possible, but the same database can be used from different PCs. To allow this, ZooEasy needs to be installed on each PC on which the program needs to be used via the network. During the installation process, the option is offered to change to proposed installation location. At this point, you can make use of this option by selecting the network location. The program is partly installed on the network but also part of it is installed on the local PC. Consequently this installation process needs to be repeated for each PC on which the program will be used.
Problems at the helpdesk
In January and February of this year, ZooEasy encountered several problems with staffing the helpdesk. It came to our attention that the quality sought after by us, with regard to the service provided, was not observed by one of our helpdesk employees.
Presently, this employee no longer works for ZooEasy and the helpdesk staffing problem has been entirely solved. Once again, we will provide you with the service quality that you expect from us and are used to receiving. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced earlier this year.
Any questions about this Newsletter? Send an e-mail to info@zooeasy.com
Hope to talk to you again in the next Newsletter!
With kind regards,
Team ZooEasy
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