National Evaluation System Research Articles

Are evaluative bibliometrics neoliberal? A historical and theoretical problematization

In this article, we problematize the notion that the continuously growing use of bibliometric evaluation can be effectively explained by ‘neoliberal’ ideology. A prerequisite for our analysis is an understanding of neoliberalism as both denoting a more limited set of concrete principles for the organization of society (the narrow interpretation) or as a hegemonic ideology (the broad interpretation). This conceptual framework, as well as brief history of evaluative bibliometrics, provides an analytical framing for our approach, in which four national research evaluation systems are compared: Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. On basis of an analysis of the rationales for implementing these systems, as well as their specific design, we discuss the existence or non-existence of neoliberal motivations and rationales. Overall, we find that a relatively homogeneous academic landscape, with a high degree of centralization and government steering, appears to be a common feature for countries implementing national evaluation systems relying on bibliometrics. Such characteristics, we argue, may not be inductively understood as neoliberal but as indications of national states displaying strong political steering of its research system. Consequently, if used without further clarification, ‘neoliberalism’ is a concept too broad and diluted to be useful when analyzing the development of research evaluation and bibliometric measures in the past half a century.

25 Sustainable Dairy Breeding: Working within the US National Evaluation System

Abstract We define sustainable agriculture as a balance of practices protecting the natural environment, promoting economic vitality, and building healthy communities in the present without compromising the future. The dairy industry has been working for decades with these goals in mind, but under the brand of productive efficiency. This has resulted in tremendous gains in farm profitability and cow performance, though dairy systems are continually impacted by resource availability, advancing technology, and changing consumer values that all affect the environment in which cows must perform. As we redefine selection goals for sustainability we should prioritize overall fitness, encompassing a dairy cattle population that is genetically diverse, resilient, and adaptable. Greater genetic gains correspond to a faster rate of inbreeding, which has long been recognized as an antagonist to health and performance. Male genetic variation is very limited due to the marketability of high genetic merit sires and so conserving female genetic diversity must be a top priority. National genetic and genomic evaluations are delivered with the cooperation of key industry partners through a complex system of data sharing and management; incorporating new phenotypes (e.g., emissions) will require operating within the parameters of this system. Examples of changing industry trends include the rise in embryo transfer, increasing interest in evaluations for heat tolerance, higher frequency of robotic milkers in the United States, and the popularity of beef-on-dairy crossbreds as managers seek to sustain farm profits. Genetic improvement tools need to be just as dynamic as the dairy industry, but they all depend upon reliable and accurate data flow. Autonomous, sensor-based phenotyping represents a huge opportunity for genomic improvement, but translating this rapidly generated data into something that can be used for genomic selection will be a new challenge.

Infant feeding policies and monitoring systems: A qualitative study of European Countries.

Implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding varies widely among countries. Policymakers would benefit from insights into obstacles and enablers. Our aim was to explore the processes behind the development and implementation of national infant and young child feeding policies and monitoring systems in Europe. A qualitative study design was employed to analyze open text responses from six European countries (Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine) using inductive thematic analysis. Countries were selected based on their World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative scores on national policy and monitoring systems. The 33‐item online questionnaire was distributed to country representatives and completed by country teams. Key enablers and strengths included strong and continuous government commitment to infant and young child feeding, an operational national breastfeeding authority, a national and active monitoring and evaluation system, implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in national legislation, the integration of skilled breastfeeding supporters, the implementation of the Baby‐friendly Hospital Initiative, and positive cultural norms and traditions supporting optimal infant and young child feeding. In some countries, UNICEF played a key role in funding and designing policies and monitoring systems. Weak government leadership, the strong influence of the industry, lack of adequate national legislation on the International Code and cultural norms which devalued breastfeeding were particularly noted as obstacles. Government commitment, funding and protection of optimal infant and young child feeding are essential to the implementation of strong national policies and monitoring systems.

A descriptive narrative on the current situation against the gold standards regarding institutionalisation of national monitoring and evaluation system for Botswana and Zimbabwe

Background: Literature demonstrates that when it comes to institutionalising national monitoring and evaluation (ME) systems, some African countries such as South Africa, Benin and Uganda are quite advanced. In the new millennium, more countries such as Zimbabwe and Botswana engaged in similar processes. However, there is still little documentation on such processes. This article thus attempts to bridge the documentation gap.Objectives: To explore the current standing of Zimbabwe and Botswana against the gold standards of institutionalisation of national ME systems.Method: An exploratory study design was used to estimate the level of institutionalisation of the two national ME systems. An International Atlas of Evaluation framework originally developed in year 2002, by three scholars namely Furubo, Rist and Sandahl was adopted as a guiding framework for the research. An online survey method was employed to gather the required quantitative data. Data analysis was carried out through the International Atlas of Evaluation assessment tool and the scores to determine the level of institutionalisation were generated. The output was displayed through graphs and tables.Results: Overall, while Botswana received a score of 48% on the International Atlas of Evaluation scale, Zimbabwe got 53%. These scores indicate that the two countries have attained a rather average level of institutionalisation and are still lacking in terms of meeting the expected gold standards.Conclusion: There is significant progress in both countries towards fully institutionalising their national ME systems. However, more is yet to be realised before attaining the expected gold standards. It is recommended that both countries emulate and leverage on those African countries with much more advanced national ME systems such as South Africa.

Transforming voluntary organisations for professional evaluation into central pillars of national evaluation systems

Background: Voluntary organisations for professional evaluation (VOPEs) have proliferated across the African continent, seeking to contribute to building effective national evaluation systems (NESs) that enhance development planning, implementation and appraisal.Objectives: A study commissioned by the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results - Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) and the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) in 2021 highlights key strengths and challenges faced by African VOPEs in their quest to help strengthen NESs across the continent.Method: The study was qualitative by design, employing document analysis, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with selected VOPEs across Africa.Results: While African VOPEs have proliferated in number, they take different forms, and their focus tends to be shaped by their respective national contexts. A key challenge for African VOPEs is internal human and financial capacities, while the external environment within which these national evaluation associations operate also presents risks such as co-optation and opportunities such as networking and resources.Conclusion: This article argues for the need for African VOPEs to improve their internal financial and human capacity, thereby enabling these professional associations to endeavour to contribute to strengthening the supply and demand sides of NESs, as well as refining their advocacy to reflect Africa-centred evaluation approaches and criteria.

Perception of National Park Soundscape and Its Effects on Visual Aesthetics.

Soundscape perception is a very weak link in the national park landscape evaluation system in China. A thorough understanding of soundscapes and their effects on visual aesthetics is important for the management of national park landscapes. In this study, features of soundscapes (e.g., loudness, frequency, preference, and auditory satisfaction) were investigated based on 394 valid questionnaires of residents in the Qianjiangyuan National Park Pilot Area. The effects of soundscape on visual aesthetics were analyzed using the PLS-SEM. The results demonstrated that: (1) Peddling voice and insect sound were the loudest components in the soundscape, running water and birdsong were the most commonly heard and most preferred, religious sound was the quietest and least frequently heard, and horn was the least preferred. Residents in the Pilot Area were generally satisfied with the auditory environment. (2) Both sound frequency and preference have significant effects on auditory satisfaction, but preference (path coefficient = 0.426) has a larger effect than does frequency (path coefficient = 0.228). (3) Loudness has negligible effects on visual aesthetics, but other soundscape characteristics did influence visual aesthetics. Soundscape preference had the most significant effect (path coefficient = 0.305), followed by auditory satisfaction (path coefficient = 0.174), and sound frequency (path coefficient = 0.165). Among them, effects of perception frequency are the indirect utilities.

Grounding evaluation capacity development in systems theory

While “systemic thinking” is popular in the context of capacity development and evaluation, there is currently a lack of understanding about the benefits to employing systems theory in evaluation capacity development. Systems theory provides a useful orientation to the work involved in complex systems (e.g. national evaluation systems). This article illustrates how evaluation capacity development practitioners can use systems theory as a conceptual tool to gain a better understanding of the functional aspects and interrelationships present within a given evaluation system. Specifically, the systems theory perspective can help elucidate the reasons for the success or failure of a given evaluation capacity development program or activity. With the goal of motivating evaluation capacity development practitioners to use systems theory in their work, this article presents a systems theory framework for evaluation capacity development and offers practical examples of how it can be adopted.

The Effective Trends and Driving Forces in The Future of Research Performance Evaluation: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Performance is a multidimensional concept and is evaluated by different criteria. Definition and evaluation of research performance are always controversial and may be affected by variable conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effective trends and driving forces in the future of research performance evaluation. Methods: In this qualitative study, the trend analysis through scoping review and interview was done to identify the driving forces affecting the future of research performance evaluation. The scoping review was conducted according to PRISMA-ScR guidelines and searching of the international databases. The interviews were done face-to-face, by telephone, and on social media. MAXQDA version 10 and thematic analysis were used to analyze the interviews and documents. Results: In the scoping review step, a total of 6125 records were found through searching of the international databases and search engines. After removing 869 duplications, the title and abstract of 5256 records were screened. Finally, 42 records (41 English articles and 1 dissertation) were eligible for the study. In the interview step, 248 codes were assigned in nine main categories, 64 subcategories, and 47 dimensions. The trends included social (27 codes), technological (38 codes), economic (30 codes), environmental (5 codes), and political (44 codes) dimensions. Then, acquired information from two steps was synthesized, and the effective social, technological, economic, environmental, and political trends and driving forces were identified. Conclusion: The results showed that various social, technological, economic, environmental, and political factors and indicators must be included and normalized in the national and international research performance evaluation system.

THE LEVEL OF MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT COMPARED TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE NATIONAL EVALUATION SYSTEM IN GRADE 4 STUDENTS

A good knowledge of the level of development of motor skills of students allows us to identify/improve/establish the level ofmanifestation of its components and the relationships between them. Physical fitness is a strong indicator of health in childhood and adolescence and a main objective for the specialist in the field. In this context, the present study was carried out in 2018-2019and aimed to determine the level of development of motor skills in fourth-grade students from several school units in Craiova, compared tothe requirements of the national evaluation system. Materials and methods.In order to ascertain the level of somatic and motor development of the group included in the present approach, anthropometric measurements and motor testswere applied, namely: height, weight, torso/chest height, abdominal perimeter, arm span,thestanding long jump, supine trunk lifts, the 25mrunning speedand the long-distancerunning. The recording methods applied were those already standardized. Results. Following the analysis of the recorded data we can state that,as far as somatic indicators are concerned, the investigated group presents values below the average of students of the same age in both girls and boys, and there are no significant differences between sexes. However, there is a downward trend inthe average values in the motor tests, many of the recorded values being above therequirements of the national evaluation system. Also, the body mass index calculated for the target group has values that place the studentsin a comfortable range, the average being below the underweight threshold. Conclusions. We consider such approaches very useful, both for a diagnosis of what is actually happening in the school, and forapplying targeted intervention programs to improve any deficiencies.

Feasibility of using real-world data in the evaluation of cardiac ablation catheters: a test-case of the National Evaluation System for Health Technology Coordinating Center

ObjectivesTo determine the feasibility of using real-world data to assess the safety and effectiveness of two cardiac ablation catheters for the treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation and ischaemic ventricular tachycardia.DesignRetrospective...

Evaluation of National Health Insurance Program Implementation in Jakarta Province, Indonesia

The implementation of National Health Insurance in several regions in Indonesia faces challenges, such as health service providers, health insurance management , and the community. The outcome that occurs may vary depending on the implementation of different aspects of governance, equity or social justice, and aspects of service quality. Therefore, research was conducted by evaluating the implementation of the national health insurance in DKI Jakarta Province. The evaluation is carried out based on the 2019 JKN road map target indicators, grouped into three aspects: including governance, achievement of equal distribution of health services (equity), and quality of service. This research used a mixed-methods design that combined the approach of quantitative and qualitative elements. Quantitative data were collected from secondary data from Health Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), the National Social Security Council Monitoring and Evaluation System (Sismonev DJSN). The qualitative data comes from in-depth interviews with selected informants using the purposive sampling technique. The result was that DKI Province had achieved the JKN membership target. There are still JKN participants who are inactive / in arrears from participants in the government and private wage-earning segments. Health facilities and human health resources have met the standards, but related to the package of benefits for heart diseases services, the availability of cardiac specialists and cath lab facilities has not been evenly distributed, especially in the Seribu Islands. Patient preferences in choosing the desired health service resulted in implementing a tiered referral system and back-referral still having problems in health facilities.

Using environmental evaluation systems and their contribution to sustainable development

Drawing on previous research into evaluation use and sustainable development, this article investigates to what extent and how a national evaluation system can advance sustainable development. The data comprise interviews with key actors, observations at seminars where evaluations were discussed, and analysis of evaluation reports. The actors were divided into three categories (i.e. central, proximal, and peripheral) to indicate their closeness to the national policy cycle. The results indicate that the evaluations were used mainly by central and proximal actors, primarily because the evaluation knowledge met most of their knowledge needs, and very little used by peripheral actors, such as environmental and business organizations. The evaluation system’s main influence was to consolidate environmental work and provide guidance on the environmental dimension of sustainable development at the national level. The evaluation system also served as a recurring reminder for stakeholders about the national objectives, their achievement, and everyone’s responsibility for their implementation.

Recommendations for collection and integration of community-based testing and linkage to care data into national surveillance, monitoring and evaluation systems for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections: results from the INTEGRATE Joint Action

BackgroundNational testing strategy, including monitoring and evaluation, is critical in responding to HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and viral hepatitis. Community-based voluntary counselling and testing contributes to early HIV diagnoses among key populations. Countries providing community-based testing, should integrate some core data on testing and linkage to care in these services into national surveillance and monitoring and evaluation systems. This study aimed to support the integration of community-based voluntary counselling and testing data into respective national surveillance and M&E systems for those infections.MethodsPreliminary consensus on indicators for the integration of community-based voluntary counselling and testing data into respective national surveillance and monitoring and evaluation systems was reached. Pilot studies were conducted in Estonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. After pilot activities were implemented, the final consensus on indicators was reached. An analysis of the facilitators and barriers faced during pilot studies was conducted to inform the final recommendations for implementation.ResultsThe minimum set of six indicators to be integrated into national surveillance and monitoring and evaluation systems were: number of tests, number of clients tested, reactivity rate for tests and clients, positivity (active infection) rates for tests and clients, linkage to care rates for clients with reactive and/or positive test result, proportion of all new diagnoses in a country with first reactive test result at community-based voluntary counselling and testing service. Seven additional indicators were identified. Each indicator should be disaggregated by key population, sex and age group. A list of 10 recommendations for the collection and integration of community-based voluntary counselling and testing data into national surveillance and monitoring and evaluation systems for HIV, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis was identified.ConclusionsIntegration of some community-based voluntary counselling and testing monitoring and evaluation data into national surveillance and monitoring and evaluation systems in all pilot countries was achieved. The recommendations will support such integration in other European countries. European Centre for Prevention and Control of Diseases included questions from the minimum list of indicators into their Dublin Declaration questionnaire 2020 to contribute to evidence based community testing policies in European countries.

What works for poor farmers? Insights from South Africa’s national policy evaluations

Background: Growing numbers of developing countries are investing in National Evaluation Systems (NESs). A key question is whether these have the potential to bring about meaningful policy change, and if so, what evaluation approaches are appropriate to support reflection and learning throughout the change process.Objectives: We describe the efforts of commissioned external evaluators in developing an evaluation approach to help critically assess the efficacy of some of the most important policies and programmes aimed at supporting South African farmers from the past two decades.Method: We present the diagnostic evaluation approach we developed. The approach guides evaluation end users through a series of logical steps to help make sense of an existing evidence base in relation to the root problems addressed, and the specific needs of the target populations. No additional evaluation data were collected. Groups who participated include government representatives, academics and representatives from non-governmental organisations and national associations supporting emerging farmers.Results: Our main evaluation findings relate to a lack of policy coherence in important key areas, most notably extension and advisory services, and microfinance and grants. This was characterised by; (1) an absence of common understanding of policies and objectives; (2) overly ambitious objectives often not directly linked to the policy frameworks; (3) lack of logical connections between target groups and interventions and (4) inadequate identification, selection, targeting and retention of beneficiaries.Conclusion: The diagnostic evaluation allowed for uniquely cross-cutting and interactive engagement with a complex evidence base. The evaluation process shed light on new evaluation review methods that might work to support a NES.

Feasibility of capturing real-world data from health information technology systems at multiple centers to assess cardiac ablation device outcomes: A fit-for-purpose informatics analysis report.

ObjectiveThe study sought to conduct an informatics analysis on the National Evaluation System for Health Technology Coordinating Center test case of cardiac ablation catheters and to demonstrate the role of informatics approaches in the feasibility assessment of capturing real-world data using unique device identifiers (UDIs) that are fit for purpose for label extensions for 2 cardiac ablation catheters from the electronic health records and other health information technology systems in a multicenter evaluation.Materials and MethodsWe focused on data capture and transformation and data quality maturity model specified in the National Evaluation System for Health Technology Coordinating Center data quality framework. The informatics analysis included 4 elements: the use of UDIs for identifying device exposure data, the use of standardized codes for defining computable phenotypes, the use of natural language processing for capturing unstructured data elements from clinical data systems, and the use of common data models for standardizing data collection and analyses.ResultsWe found that, with the UDI implementation at 3 health systems, the target device exposure data could be effectively identified, particularly for brand-specific devices. Computable phenotypes for study outcomes could be defined using codes; however, ablation registries, natural language processing tools, and chart reviews were required for validating data quality of the phenotypes. The common data model implementation status varied across sites. The maturity level of the key informatics technologies was highly aligned with the data quality maturity model.ConclusionsWe demonstrated that the informatics approaches can be feasibly used to capture safety and effectiveness outcomes in real-world data for use in medical device studies supporting label extensions.

Student Physical Health Information Management Model under Big Data Environment

Health is considered an important foundation for students’ success. However, with the accelerated pace of life, rising pressure from various parties, weak health awareness, lack of exercise time, and other reasons, students’ physical quality is generally declining, the incidence of health diseases is increasing, and the onset age tends to be younger. With the development of the concept of “health first,” health management continues to expand and extend and students’ health management has attracted more attention from many aspects. Due to the late and low starting point of health management research and the lack of professional theoretical support, a complete, mature, and effective health management service system has not been established to deal with the students’ health. In order to make student health management more scientific, normative, and effective, this article has proposed big data technology to build the student health information management model. The first step of the approach is to store and analyze the data of students’ physical health. It is necessary to combine the data collection, supervision, data analysis, and data application of students’ physical health and gradually improve the national monitoring and evaluation system of students’ physical health. Student health check-up management platform is mainly used in realizing the school student information management and student health information relationship between system, science, standardization, and automation, and its main task is to use a computer to perform daily management of all previous medical information of students, such as query, modify, add, delete, and enhance the physical health of students information management ability given the large data analysis of useful information. In addition, we have built a doctor recommendation model based on online questions and answers to give specific health recommendations for students of different physiques.

Academic research evaluation in artistic disciplines: the case of Poland

This study focuses on the evaluation of artistic disciplines (visual and performing arts) within performance-based university research funding systems. It offers an analysis of the Polish academic research evaluation system and investigates its effects on the scholarly productivity of artists-academics. Poland has adopted a performance-based research funding system that includes evaluation of artistic productions (without considering them as ‘research’) and developed a comprehensive quantification of artistic achievements. We analyse data from the Polish Current Research Information System on 136,894 outputs submitted by 93 art faculties for two evaluation exercises (in 2013 and 2017). Our findings demonstrate a change in scholarly productivity of artists-academics towards publication practices characteristic for science-oriented disciplines. We also find that art departments located in universities exhibit a greater tendency for changing publication practices than departments located in independent art schools. The findings from this study demonstrate that both: (1) the designs of national research evaluation systems and (2) the structures of higher education may influence scholarly outcomes in practice-based disciplines.

Policies for evidence: a comparative analysis of Africa’s national evaluation policy landscape

Background: African countries are developing their monitoring and evaluation policies to systematise, structure and institutionalise evaluations and use of evaluative evidence across the government sector. The pace at which evaluations are institutionalised and systematised across African governments is progressing relatively slowly. Aims and objectives: This article offers a comparative analysis of Africa’s national evaluation policy landscape. The article looks at the policies of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya (not adopted) and Uganda. To achieve the aim we unpack the different characteristics taken by the national evaluation policies, emerging lessons for countries who wish to develop a national evaluation policy, and key challenges faced by countries with regard to evaluation policy development and implementation. The article draws on both a desktop review and action research approaches from the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results Anglophone Africa to build national evaluation systems across the region. The approach has included peer learning and co-creation of knowledge around public sector evaluation systems. Key conclusions: The national evaluation policies reviewed share certain common features in terms of purpose and composition. They are also struggling with common issues of institutionalising the evaluation system across the public sector. However, there are variations in the countries’ guiding governance frameworks at a national level that shape the nature and content of policies, as well as the ways through which the policies themselves are expected to guide the use of evaluative evidence for decision and policymaking, and programming.

Individual and Institutional Determinants of the Scientific Production of Academic Staff in Human and Social Sciences in Moroccan Universities

This research focuses on the scientific production of academic staff in Human and Social Sciences (HSS) in Moroccan universities. It takes place in a context marked by strong pressures related to scientific research and by changes in the mission of the University that impact the work of the academic at all levels. With regard to HSS, the Moroccan university system appears to be far from being in line with the logic of global competition, and the research activity of the academic staff in HSS is often out of step with institutional policies and the needs of national and international evaluation systems. This can be seen from the publication figures reported in commissioned reports or expert assessments carried out by national or international organizations, or by the scarcity of work that has studied the determinants of the production of academic staff in HSS in Morocco. Hence the objective of this research is to formulate a research model that gathers the potential determinants of the level of scientific production of academic staff and that is adapted to the context of Moroccan universities. Our research therefore aims to fill certain gaps in the knowledge of the social dynamics of knowledge production practices by HSS researchers who are often confused with their colleagues in other scientific fields.

Genotype by environment interaction for Holstein cattle populations using autoregressive and within- and across-country multi-trait reaction norms test-day models

The progenies of international bulls in diverse climatic conditions and management levels may lead to different expressions of their genetic potential resulting in a re-ranking of these bulls. Therefore, evaluate the presence of genotype by environment interaction (G×E) within and across countries is important to guide the decision-making on alternative selection strategies. Thus, a two-step reaction norm (RN) approach was used to investigate the presence of G×E in Portuguese and Brazilian Holstein cattle. In step 1, we performed a within-country genetic evaluation using an autoregressive model to obtain precorrected phenotypes and environmental gradients (herd test-day solutions, HTD levels). In step 2, the precorrected phenotypes were considered as two distinct traits in a bi-trait RN model to estimate variance components across HTD levels, genetic correlation between HTD levels in Portugal and Brazil, and RN of the estimated breeding values. Additionally, the genetic correlation between countries using a bi-trait random regression (RR) sire model was obtained. In step 1, genetic additive variance for milk yield (MY) in Portugal was 14.1% higher than in Brazil. For somatic cell score (SCS), the genetic additive variance in Portugal was 12.7% lower than in Brazil. Although similar heritability estimates for SCS were observed in both countries, MY heritabilities were 0.31 for Portugal and 0.23 for Brazil. Genetic correlations (SD) between both countries obtained using RR sire model were 0.78 (0.051) for MY and 0.75 (0.062) for SCS. In step 2, MY genetic correlations among HTD levels within countries were higher than 0.94 for Portugal and 0.98 for Brazil. Somatic cell score genetic correlations among HTD levels ranged from 0.70 to 0.99 for Portugal and from 0.84 to 0.99 for Brazil. The average (SD) of genetic correlation estimates between Portuguese and Brazilian HTD levels were 0.74 (0.009) for MY and 0.57 (0.060) for SCS. These results suggest the presence of G×E for MY and SCS of Holstein cattle between both countries. Although there was no indication of G×E between Brazilian herd environments, the low genetic correlation for SCS indicates potential re-ranking of bulls between extreme environmental gradient in Portugal. Overall, the results of this study evidence the importance of national and international genetic evaluation systems to assist dairy farmers in the selection of the best genotypes to obtain the expected returns from investments in imported semen and to realize genetic progress in dairy populations under local environmental conditions.