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Abstract Background Effective conservation and utilization of farm animals are fundamental for realizing sustainable increases in food production. In situ and ex situ conservation are the two main strategies that are currently used to protect the genetic integrity of Chinese domestic chicken breeds. However, genomic diversity and population structure have not been compared in these conserved populations. Results Three hundred and sixty-one individuals from three Chinese domestic chicken breeds were collected from populations conserved in situ and ex situ and genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). First, we used different parameters based on heterozygosity, genomic inbreeding, and linkage disequilibrium to estimate the genomic diversity of these populations, and applied principal component analysis (PCA), neighbor-joining tree, and ADMIXTURE to analyze population structure. We found that the small ex situ conserved populations, which have been maintained in controlled environments, retained less genetic diversity than the in situ conserved populations. In addition, genetic differentiation was detected between the in situ and ex situ conserved populations of the same breed. Next, we analyzed signatures of selection using three statistical methods (fixation index (FST), nucleotide diversity (Pi), and cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity (XP-EHH) to study the genetic footprints that underlie the differentiation between in situ and ex situ conserved populations. We concluded that, in these small populations, differentiation might be caused by genetic drift or by mutations from the original populations. The differentiation observed in the population of Beijing You chicken probably reflects adaptation to environmental changes in temperature and humidity that the animals faced when they were moved from their place of origin to the new site for ex situ conservation. Conclusions Conservation programs of three Chinese domestic chicken breeds have maintained their genomic diversity to a sustainable degree. The small ex situ conserved populations, which are maintained in controlled environments, retain less genetic diversity than populations conserved in situ. In addition, the transfer of populations from their place of origin to another site for conservation purposes results in genetic differentiation, which may be caused by genetic drift or adaptation. This study provides a basis for further optimization of in situ and ex situ conservation programs for domestic chicken breeds in China.

Abstract Background Egg-laying performance is economically important in poultry breeding programs. Crossbreeding between indigenous and elite commercial lines to exploit heterosis has been an upward trend in traditional layer breeding for niche markets. The objective of this study was to analyse the genetic background and to estimate the heterosis of longitudinal egg-laying traits in reciprocal crosses between an indigenous Beijing-You and an elite commercial White Leghorn layer line. Egg weights were measured for the first three eggs, monthly from 28 to 76 weeks of age, and at 86 and 100 weeks of age. Egg quality traits were measured at 32, 54, 72, 86, and 100 weeks of age. Egg production traits were measured from the start of lay until 43, 72, and 100 weeks of age. Heritabilities and phenotypic and genetic correlations were estimated. Heterosis was estimated as the percentage difference of performance of a crossbred from that of the parental average. Reciprocal cross differences were estimated as the difference between the reciprocal crossbreds as a percentage of the parental average. Results Estimates of heritability of egg weights ranged from 0.29 to 0.75. Estimates of genetic correlations between egg weights at different ages ranged from 0.72 to 1.00. Estimates of heritability for cumulative egg numbers until 43, 72, and 100 weeks of age were around 0.15. Estimates of heterosis for egg weight and cumulative egg number increased with age, ranging from 1.0 to 9.0% and from 1.4 to 11.6%, respectively. From 72 to 100 weeks of age, crossbreds produced more eggs per week than the superior parent White Leghorn (3.5 eggs for White Leghorn, 3.8 and 3.9 eggs for crossbreds). Heterosis for eggshell thickness ranged from 2.7 to 6.6% when using Beijing-You as the sire breed. No significant difference between reciprocal crosses was observed for the investigated traits, except for eggshell strength at 54 weeks of age. Conclusions The heterosis was substantial for egg weight and cumulative egg number, and increased with age, suggesting that non-additive genetic effects are important in crossbreds between the indigenous and elite breeds. Generally, the crossbreds performed similar to or even outperformed the commercial White Leghorns for egg production persistency.

Abstract Background Heterosis is routinely exploited to improve animal performance. However, heterosis and its underlying molecular mechanism for feed intake and efficiency have been rarely explored in chickens. Feed efficiency continues to be an important breeding goal trait since feed accounts for 60 to 70% of the total production costs in poultry. Here, we profiled the mRNA-lncRNA landscape of 96 samples of the hypothalamus, liver and duodenum mucosa from White Leghorn (WL), Beijing-You chicken (YY), and their reciprocal crosses (WY and YW) to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of heterosis. Results We observed negative heterosis for both feed intake and residual feed intake (RFI) in YW during the laying period from 43 to 46 weeks of age. Analysis of the global expression pattern showed that non-additivity was a major component of the inheritance of gene expression in the three tissues for YW but not for WY. The YW-specific non-additively expressed genes (YWG) and lncRNA (YWL) dominated the total number of non-additively expressed genes and lncRNA in the hypothalamus and duodenum mucosa. Enrichment analysis of YWG showed that mitochondria components and oxidation phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathways were shared among the three tissues. The OXPHOS pathway was enriched by target genes for YWL with non-additive inheritance of expression in the liver and duodenum mucosa. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis revealed divergent co-expression modules associated with feed intake and RFI in the three tissues from WL, YW, and YY. Among the negatively related modules, the OXPHOS pathway was enriched by hub genes in the three tissues, which supports the critical role of oxidative phosphorylation. Furthermore, protein quantification of ATP5I was highly consistent with ATP5I expression in the liver, which suggests that, in crossbred YW, non-additive gene expression is down-regulated and decreases ATP production through oxidative phosphorylation, resulting in negative heterosis for feed intake and efficiency. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that non-additively expressed genes and lncRNA involved in oxidative phosphorylation in the hypothalamus, liver, and duodenum mucosa are key regulators of the negative heterosis for feed intake and RFI in layer chickens. These findings should facilitate the rational choice of suitable parents for producing crossbred chickens.

Heavy metal contamination in soil, which is harmful to both ecosystem and mankind, has attracted worldwide attention from the academic and industrial communities. However, the most-widely used remediation technologies such as electrochemistry, elution, and phytoremediation. suffer from either secondary pollution, long cycle time or high cost. In contrast, in situ mineralization technology shows great potential due to its universality, durability and economical efficiency. As such, the development of mineralizers with both high efficiency and low-cost is the core of in situmineralization. In 2021, the concept of ‘Super-Stable Mineralization’ was proposed for the first time by Kong et al.[1] The layered double hydroxides (denoted as LDHs), with the unique host–guest intercalated structure and multiple interactions between the host laminate and the guest anions, are considered as an ideal class of materials for super-stable mineralization. In this review, we systematically summarize the application of LDHs in the treatment of heavy metal contaminated soil from the view of: 1) the structure–activity relationship of LDHs in in situ mineralization, 2) the advantages of LDHs in mineralizing heavy metals, 3) the scale-up preparation of LDHs-based mineralizers and 4) the practical application of LDHs in treating contaminated soil. At last, we highlight the challenges and opportunities for the rational design of LDH-based mineralizer in the future.

The objective of the paper is to compare the merits of the multiplication and max value schemes for producing a total focusing method (TFM) representation that combines multiple acoustic modes. We have chosen to compound phase coherence imaging (PCI) images because it eliminates the difficulties associated with handling vastly different acoustic sensitivities across different propagation modes. We also introduce an apodization-based algorithm that can filter out unwanted mode-conversion artifacts that are caused by similarities in time of flights. Experimental data were gathered on an electric resistance welding (ERW) hook crack and a natural bottom-surface-connected vertical crack. Experimental results indicate the multiplication scheme suppresses defect echoes that can only be imaged by a subset of acoustic modes. This can potentially lead to false negatives or underestimation of the extent of the defect. In contrast, the max value scheme retains all indications that appear in a subset of acoustic modes. For the vertical crack configuration imaged by shear wave acoustic modes, the max value scheme retains all mode-conversion artifacts and therefore complicates the defect analysis. The apodization-based filtering method significantly suppressed mode-conversion artifacts without affecting the imaging of the vertical crack. The combination of PCI with max value merging and apodization-based mode-conversion filtering is a promising methodology for merged mode TFM in shear wave weld inspections.

Frente a la traducción de la obra de Azorín en el contexto europeo, que ha sido ampliamente analizada y criticada, se produce cierto descuido bibliográfico sobre la difusión y recepción de su obra en el lejano oriente, en países como China. Este trabajo tiene por objetivo contextualizar esta recepción, catalogar sus traducciones al chino mandarín y reflexionar sobre su estilo, sobre todo examinando la traducción indirecta de La novia de Cervantes realizada por Dai Wangshu en la versión de 2013, aunque también se analizan y comparan otras versiones de carácter directo de diferentes traductores chinos como Xu Cenghui y Fan Ruihua (1988), y Lin Yian (2018). A nivel traductológico, se reflexiona sobre qué se entiende por una traducción relevante.

Der Sinologe und Theologe Richard Wilhelm leistete durch seine Übersetzungen klassischer chinesischer philosophischer Werke und durch seine bahnbrechende Erforschung der chinesischen Kultur einen großen Beitrag zur Überlieferung der klassischen chinesischen Philosophie im Westen ebenso wie zum Kulturaustausch zwischen China und Deutschland. In einem Dokumentarfilm unter der Regie seiner Enkelin Bettina Wilhelm führt sie einen Dialog mit ihrem Großvater, indem sie seine Spuren in China und Deutschland nachzeichnet. Ein Gespräch zwischen Bettina Wilhelm und Forschern, Lehrern und Schülern über diesen Film offenbart die tief reichende Bedeutung des Buches I Ging, nämlich „Wandlungen“, dessen Philosophie Richard Wilhelm in den Bann zog. Aufgeschlossenheit gegenüber Wandel (die Begegnung mit einer anderen Kultur bedeutet ebenfalls Wandel) wird als ein geeigneter Weg angesehen, um mit Veränderungen umzugehen und im Strom des Lebens mit zu schwimmen.

En el presente trabajo analizamos las ventajas y las deficiencias del uso de los métodos cuantitativo y cualitativo en estudios enfocados en lenguas extranjeras. A modo de ejemplo, observamos dos casos cuyos estudios están basados respectivamente en ambos métodos: en el primer caso se utiliza el programa SPSS (https://www.ibm.com/spss) como herramienta de análisis y en el segundo se emplea el programa Atlas.ti (https://atlasti.com/). En cada uno de estos casos se reflexiona sobre su aplicación en la investigación, analizando, por ejemplo, si la explicación es correcta con el método seguido y las herramientas adoptadas o si se han omitido algunos factores en la recogida y análisis de datos. Con el desarrollo de la tecnología digital e informática en las últimas décadas, han aparecido abundantes programas y plataformas en línea, lo cual hace factible de forma eficaz la recogida de datos a distancia y su procesamiento automático. Por consiguiente, en este trabajo también se aborda la aplicación de las nuevas tecnologías en la recogida y análisis de datos. Asimismo, para corregir, en la medida de lo posible, las deficiencias reveladas en estudios basados en métodos cuantitativo y cualitativo, se expone la posible solución, basada en el diseño de un método mixto de los dos modelos. La última parte del trabajo es una breve presentación de un procedimiento que utiliza esta estrategia mixta: la Metodología-Q. Nos proponemos, mediante su exposición y análisis, arrojar luz sobre futuros estudios en el terreno de la lengua extranjera.

Die Bildung angehender Naturwissenschaftslehrkräfte sowie von angehenden Sonderpädagog*innen ist an zahlreichen Universitäten getrennt institutionalisiert. Studierende, die sich für ein Lehramtsstudium der Sonderpädagogik bzw. der naturwissenschaftlichen Fächer im Regelschullehramt entschieden haben, werden in ihrer späteren Berufspraxis mit Anforderungen konfrontiert, in denen sie kooperativ mit Lehrer*innen der jeweils anderen Lehramtsprofession inklusiven Naturwissenschaftsunterricht planen, durchführen und reflektieren müssen. In der Schulpraxis ist deshalb eine erfolgreiche Kooperation von sonderpädagogischen Lehrkräften und Regelschullehrkräften ein zentraler Baustein für die Förderung aller Schüler*innen in einem inklusiven Naturwissenschaftsunterricht. Vor diesem Hintergrund besteht das Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags darin, ein kooperatives Seminarkonzept zu präsentieren, welches grundlegende Kompetenzen und Haltungen von angehenden Regelschullehrkräften und Sonderpädagog*innen zur kooperativen Gestaltung eines inklusiven naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichts in den Blick nimmt.

Ultrafast single-particle imaging with intense x-ray pulses from free-electron laser sources provides a new approach for visualizing structure and dynamics on the nanoscale. After a short introduction to the novel free-electron laser sources and methods, we highlight selected applications and discuss how ultrafast imaging flourishes from method development to early applications in physics and biology to opportunities for chemical sciences.

With these retrospective reflections, inspired by translinguistic and transculturalhermeneutics, on the essential linguistic and cultural difficulties encountered during thetranslation process of the famous Chinese epic and historical narrative,L'Epopée des TroisRoyaumes de Luo Guanzhong (1330 -1400?), from a mother tongue, Chinese, to an acquiredlanguage, French, two languages that belong to two very distant linguistic groups, this article,therefore, seeks to elucidate some of the unavoidable problems of translation both in China as in the West: the definition of translation according to Steiner, basic criteria of translationaccording to Yan Fu and Qian Zhongshu, the role and objective of the translator according to Proust, etc., and always without ceasing to insist on the specific features of a figurative languagesuch as Chinese, as well as in the ambivalence and polysemy of Chinese and Western cultures, with the purpose of providing certain methodological clues or advice icons for its translation andto demonstrate that despite the multiple difficulties both at a linguistic and cultural level,translation is possible if the translator knows how to appropriate the genius of the twolanguages involved in this formidable process of verbal alchemy, and knows how to transcribe,or how to manage, to revive, in its translation, the deep meaning that the translated workcontained and communicated.

Abstract Background Large-scale phenotyping for detailed milk fatty acid (FA) composition is difficult due to expensive and time-consuming analytical techniques. Reliability of genomic prediction is often low for traits that are expensive/difficult to measure and for breeds with a small reference population size. An effective method to increase reference population size could be to combine datasets from different populations. Prediction models might also benefit from incorporation of information on the biological underpinnings of quantitative traits. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) show that genomic regions on Bos taurus chromosomes (BTA) 14, 19 and 26 underlie substantial proportions of the genetic variation in milk FA traits. Genomic prediction models that incorporate such results could enable improved prediction accuracy in spite of limited reference population sizes. In this study, we combine gas chromatography quantified FA samples from the Chinese, Danish and Dutch Holstein populations and implement a genomic feature best linear unbiased prediction (GFBLUP) model that incorporates variants on BTA14, 19 and 26 as genomic features for which random genetic effects are estimated separately. Prediction reliabilities were compared to those estimated with traditional GBLUP models. Results Predictions using a multi-population reference and a traditional GBLUP model resulted in average gains in prediction reliability of 10% points in the Dutch, 8% points in the Danish and 1% point in the Chinese populations compared to predictions based on population-specific references. Compared to the traditional GBLUP, implementation of the GFBLUP model with a multi-population reference led to further increases in prediction reliability of up to 38% points in the Dutch, 23% points in the Danish and 13% points in the Chinese populations. Prediction reliabilities from the GFBLUP model were moderate to high across the FA traits analyzed. Conclusions Our study shows that it is possible to predict genetic merits for milk FA traits with reasonable accuracy by combining related populations of a breed and using models that incorporate GWAS results. Our findings indicate that international collaborations that facilitate access to multi-population datasets could be highly beneficial to the implementation of genomic selection for detailed milk composition traits.

Thank to the French translation in five volumes (between 2006-2014) of the greatclassic of Chinese literatura,L'Epopée des Trois Royaumes, de Luo Guan-zhong, it can be read in the Western World and its real value appreciated. Especially, the archetypical relationships of the original contents with the European myth of the Holy Grail and the matter of Arthur in general.

In previous studies on learner lexicography, design features of both the content and presentation of learner's dictionaries are the two major research concerns. The quality assessment of learner's dictionaries also covers the two dimensions. Terms used for evaluating them are respectively "usability" or "availability" for the former and "findability" or "accessibility" for the latter. However, the lexicographical construction of "learnability", which takes into account the users' reference and learning needs, remains virtually unexplored either theoretically or practically. Compared to the features of dictionary design mentioned above, "learnability" as the design philosophy of learner lexicography is worth more serious consideration. The present paper aims at exploring the lexicographical notion of "learnability" by way of introducing the neglected legacy of Robert Morrison in his compilation of Wuche Yunfu (五车韵府) (1819), which is characterized by a high degree of learnability illustrated in the dictionary entries. Morrison's pioneering efforts may help with the conceptual clarification of "learnability" in compiling learner's dictionaries, bilingual ones in particular. Moreover, it is hoped that the recognition of Morrison's lexicographical practice will be beneficial to the future production of better Chinese–English dictionaries for non-native Chinese learners.

Cheyletus malaccensis (Oudemans) is a species of predatory mite, which is widely distributed in grain storage, and is a potential natural enemy of stored-product pests. Based on the typical temperatures and humidities that occur in granaries, the growth and development of C. malaccensis was studied at 24°C with different relative humidities (RH 65±2%, 75±2%, 85±2% and 95±2%). During this study, C. malaccensis was fed on Acarus siro (Linnaeus), a very important stored grain pest to investigate its potential to control this pest and production of this natural enemy in the laboratory. The results showed that C. malaccensis has five developmental stages, egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph and adult. The deutonymph stage is absent in males. For females, the developmental time from egg to adult was shortest at 85±2 % RH and averaged 16.3 days; developmental time was longest at 65±2 % RH and averaged 18.6 days. The male mites in the 95±2% RH trials had the shortest developmental time which averaged 12.6 days; it was longest at 65±2% RH where it averaged 14.7 days. At 95±2 % RH, the male adult lived 83.5 d and its longevity from egg to adult was 95.8 d. Humidity had a significant effect on how long the adults lived and the duration of all developmental stages. At 85±2 % RH, the maximum average number of eggs per female, oviposition period and daily fecundity were 493.0, 46.2 d, and 10.3, respectively. This study provides basic biological parameters for C. malaccensis, a potential biological control agent for mite pests infesting stored grain.

This study explores the language practices and beliefs of local employees at a Shanghai-based subsidiary of a German multinational company. We conducted a seven-month ethnographic study and collected data from the company’s publicly accessible documents, meeting transcripts, semi-structured interviews with five employees, and ethnographic notes. Qualitative data analysis revealed that local employees frequently utilized translanguaging practices despite the company’s implicit assumption that English would be used as the common corporate language. Four major translanguaging practices were identified: key terms in English, bilingual label quest, cross-language recapping, and cross-language alternation. In addition, local employees perceived language as both a resource and an obstacle, often engaging in translanguaging practices to establish their own linguistic and communicative spaces, indicating that translanguaging is a complex multilingual practice influenced by internal and external factors, subject to social milieu, personal language competence, and beliefs. Ultimately, this study extends the notion of translanguaging and probes its analytical benefits for understanding fluid and discursive activities in multilingual workplaces and the sustainability of linguistic ecology and knowledge dissemination.

This work focuses on the influence of L2 acquisition environments (At-Home and Study-Abroad) on the language proficiency of L1 Mandarin Chinese learners of Spanish. We chose the use of Spanish past tense aspect (pretérito indefinido and pretérito imperfecto) as the entry point to analyze Chinese learners proficiency in three semi-guided writing tasks. Our results reveal that the different teaching objectives in these acquisition environments promote a different development of Chinese learners’ language capacities in Spanish: the At-Home learners have a more native-like performance when factors at the discourse level are taken into account, whereas the Study-Abroad learners have a more native-like performance when factors at the lexical level are taken into account. However, the usage pattern of the Spanish past tense aspect by learners in both environments share prototypical associations at the lexical and discourse levels.

Este trabajo se centra en la adquisición del pretérito indefinido y el pretérito imperfecto del español por aprendices chinos. A partir de investigaciones anteriores, predecimos que las diferencias del sistema aspectual entre el chino mandarín y el español pueden suponer un reto para los aprendices en el uso y comprensión del aspecto en la interlengua. Además, creemos que la adquisición del aspecto no está sincronizada en el nivel morfológico y semántico. A través de una prueba de gramatical y una de comprensión, descubrimos que las diferencias de los sistemas aspectuales entre la L1 y la L2 causan dificultad en los aprendices. Asimismo, nuestros datos apoyan que la adquisición del aspecto en el nivel morfológico ocurre más temprano que la adquisición en el nivel semántico.

Purpose: This paper seeks to illuminate the background of citizenship and character education in South Korea in order to better determine a means of collaboration between the two goals. Method: The paper is based on the qualitative analysis of the official documents and law in relation to citizenship and character education. Findings: The paper finds the differences and the similarities of citizenship and character education and there are increasing needs for both educational initiatives in terms of social and national development of South Korea.

A total of 20 Mesostigmata species are recorded from the Korean Peninsula, of which 15 (Asca nubes Ishikawa, 1969, Lasioseius tomokoae Ishikawa, 1969, Evimirus uropodinus (Berlese, 1903), Macrocheles glaber (Müller, 1860), Macrocheles punctatus Ishikawa, 1967, Pachylaelaps ishizuchiensis Ishikawa, 1977, Gamasiphis pulchellus (Berlese, 1887), Ololaelaps ussurinensis Bregetova & Koroleva, 1964, Gamasellus humosus Ishikawa, 1969, Gamasholaspis variabilis Petrova, 1967, Parholaspulus hiasmaticus Petrova, 1967, Podocinum tsushimanum Ishikawa, 1970, Neoparasitus scleoides Ishikawa, 1969, Veigaia ochracea Bregetova, 1961, Uropoda similihamulifera Hiramatsu, 1979) are presented as first occurrences from this peninsula. Asca aphidioides (Linnaeus, 1758) is already reported from the southern part of the peninsula, but we present the first occurrence in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. One species (Trachytes koreana Kontschán & Lim, sp. nov.) is described and illustrated in this paper. Seventeen of the recovered species were collected in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; the others were collected in the area of Republic of Korea.

In this paper, we present an idea for performing matrix-vector multiplication by using Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture. In traditional IC design on-chip communications have been designed with dedicated point-to-point interconnections. Therefore, regular local data transfer is the major concept of many parallel implementations. However, when dealing with the parallel implementation of sparse matrix-vector multiplication (SMVM), which is the main step of all iterative algorithms for solving systems of linear equation, the required data transfers depend on the sparsity structure of the matrix and can be extremely irregular. Using the NoC architecture makes it possible to deal with arbitrary structure of the data transfers; i.e. with the irregular structure of the sparse matrices. So far, we have already implemented the proposed SMVM-NoC architecture with the size 4×4 and 5×5 in IEEE 754 single float point precision using FPGA.

Modern VLSI manufacturing technology has kept shrinking down to the nanoscale level with a very fast trend. Integration with the advanced nano-technology now makes it possible to realize advanced parallel iterative algorithms directly which was almost impossible 10 years ago. In this paper, we want to discuss the influences of evolving VLSI technologies for iterative algorithms and present design strategies from an algorithmic and architectural point of view. Implementing an iterative algorithm on a multiprocessor array, there is a trade-off between the performance/complexity of processors and the load/throughput of interconnects. This is due to the behavior of iterative algorithms. For example, we could simplify the parallel implementation of the iterative algorithm (i.e., processor elements of the multiprocessor array) in any way as long as the convergence is guaranteed. However, the modification of the algorithm (processors) usually increases the number of required iterations which also means that the switch activity of interconnects is increasing. As an example we show that a 25×25 full Jacobi EVD array could be realized into one single FPGA device with the simplified μ-rotation CORDIC architecture.

Abstract Genetic variability and genetic relationships were investigated among eight Chinese cattle breeds using 12 microsatellite markers. Three hundred and fifty-two alleles were detected and the average number of alleles per locus ranged from 8.33 ± 1.67 in the Jiaxian breed to 21.33 ± 5.60 in the Qinchuan breed with a mean value of 13.91. The total number of alleles per microsatellite ranged from 21 (INRA005, HEL1) to 40 (HEL13), with a mean of 29.33 per locus. The fixation indices at the 12 loci in the eight breeds were very low with a mean of 0.006. A principal components analysis and the construction of a neighborjoining tree showed that these eight Chinese cattle breeds cluster into three groups i.e. the Yanbian andChineseHolstein, theNanyang and Jiaxian, and the four remaining breeds.This clustering agrees with the origin and geographical distributions of these Chinese breeds.

Abstract Background Most Bayesian models for the analysis of complex traits are not analytically tractable and inferences are based on computationally intensive techniques. This is true of Bayesian models for genome-enabled selection, which uses whole-genome molecular data to predict the genetic merit of candidate animals for breeding purposes. In this regard, parallel computing can overcome the bottlenecks that can arise from series computing. Hence, a major goal of the present study is to bridge the gap to high-performance Bayesian computation in the context of animal breeding and genetics. Results Parallel Monte Carlo Markov chain algorithms and strategies are described in the context of animal breeding and genetics. Parallel Monte Carlo algorithms are introduced as a starting point including their applications to computing single-parameter and certain multiple-parameter models. Then, two basic approaches for parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo are described: one aims at parallelization within a single chain; the other is based on running multiple chains, yet some variants are discussed as well. Features and strategies of the parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo are illustrated using real data, including a large beef cattle dataset with 50K SNP genotypes. Conclusions Parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms are useful for computing complex Bayesian models, which does not only lead to a dramatic speedup in computing but can also be used to optimize model parameters in complex Bayesian models. Hence, we anticipate that use of parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo will have a profound impact on revolutionizing the computational tools for genomic selection programs.