Enumeration of extended irreducible binary Goppa codes of degree 2m2^{m} and length 2n+12^{n}+1

Let $n$ be an odd prime and m>1 be a positive integer. We produce an upper bound on the number of inequivalent extended irreducible binary Goppa codes of degree $2^{m}$ and length $2^{n}+1$. Some examples are given to illustrate our results

Evaluating the Environmental Performance of the U.S. Next Generation Air Transportation System

The environmental impacts of several possible U.S. Next Generation Air Transportation scenarios have been quantitatively evaluated for noise, air-quality, fuel-efficiency, and CO2 impacts. Three principal findings have emerged. (1) 2025 traffic levels about 30% higher than 2006 are obtained by increasing traffic according to FAA projections while also limiting traffic at each airport using reasonable ratios of demand to capacity. NextGen operational capabilities alone enable attainment of an additional 10-15% more flights beyond that 2025 baseline level with negligible additional noise, air-quality, and fuel-efficiency impacts. (2) The addition of advanced engine and airframe technologies provides substantial additional reductions in noise and air-quality impacts, and further improves fuel efficiency. 2025 environmental goals based on projected system-wide improvement rates of about 1% per year for noise and fuel-efficiency (an air-quality goal is not yet formulated) are achieved using this new vehicle technology. (3) Overall air-transport "product", as measured by total flown distance or total payload distance, increases by about 50% relative to 2006, but total fuel consumption and CO2 production increase by only about 40% using NextGen operational capabilities. With the addition of advanced engine/airframe technologies, the increase in total fuel consumption and CO2 production can be reduced to about 30%

Prognostic values of adiponectin and leptin in assessment of osteoarthritis in menopausal HIV women in Nauth Nnewi Nigeria

Background: Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) has progressively been implicated with development of inflammatory disease including osteoarthritis. This study evaluated serum levels of adiponectin and leptin in women living with HIV with/without osteoarthritis who have been placed on highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) in NAUTH, Nnewi, Nigeria. Methods: Eighty eight participants aged between 18 and 65 years attending HAART unit of NAUTH, Nnewi were randomly selected and grouped thus: Group A (premenopausal HIV seropositive women with osteoarthritis), group B (postmenopausal HIV seropositive women with osteoarthritis), group C (premenopausal HIV seropositive women) and group D (postmenopausal HIV seropositive women). Five milliliters of blood sample collected from each of participants for determination of adiponectin and leptin using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: Adiponectin level was significantly higher in postmenopausal HIV seropositive women with osteoarthritis compared with pre and postmenopausal HIV seropositive women without osteoarthritis (p<0.05 respectively). Similarly, leptin level was significantly higher in pre and post-menopausal HIV seropositive women with osteoartritis compared with their counterparts without osteoarthritis (p<0.05 respectively). A positive significant correlation was observed between Leptin and age in premenopausal HIV seropositive women with osteoarthritis. Also, a significant negative correlation was observed between adiponectin, age in pre and postmenopausal HIV seropositive women without osteoarthritis. Conclusions: The significant increases in adiponectin and leptin levels in pre and postmenopausal HIV seropositive women can be linked to severe inflammatory reaction due to osteoarthritis which might have been aggravated by combined effects of menopause and HIV infection

Photostress Recovery Time Among Welders in Owerri Municipal Council, Southeast, Nigeria

Purpose: The photostress recovery time (PSRT) scores of welders were measured based on age, workexperience and welding-method.Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 50 purposively sampled welders, who had clear ocular media, healthy fundi and visual acuities of 6/6 or better in the tested eyes. The pre-bleach distant visual acuity of the right eye was determined with the Snellen’s visual acuity chart, while direct ophthalmoscopy was done to rule out media opacities, retinopathies and maculopathies. The  right eye was dazzled for 10 seconds with the light of a direct ophthalmoscope held at 2cm from the eye. The time required in seconds to read at least, three optotypes on the line directly above the baseline acuity was recorded as the PSRT.Results: The 22-31 years age group recorded the least mean PSRT (16±8.8seconds), followed by the 32-41 age group (19.9±6.8 seconds), while the 42-51 years category had the highest mean PSRT (31.4±10.5seconds). Age associated significantly (p˂0.05) with mean PSRT. Welders within the 1-12 years’ work experience had the least mean PSRT (15.9±8.1seconds) while those within the 25-36 years recorded the highest mean PSRT (33.4±9.3seconds). The observed difference in mean PSRT with years of work experience was statistically significant (p˂0.05). Gas welders had significantly (p˂0.05) higher mean PSRT (26.6±9.9secs) than electric arc welders (16.6±9.2secs).Conclusion: Gas welding, increasing age and work-experience were found to be predictive markers of elevated photostress recovery time (PSRT) among welders. This underscores the need for eye-care practitioners to routinize PSRT tests in the ocular assessment of welders. Keywords: Photostress recovery time (PSRT); electric-arc; gas welding; welders; age

Occasional Tillage in a Wheat-Sorghum-Fallow Rotation: 2022 Growing Season

Beginning in 2012, research was conducted near Garden City and Tribune, KS, to determine the effect of a single tillage operation every 3 years on grain yields in a wheat-sorghum-fallow (WSF) rotation. Treatments included no-till, single tillage post wheat harvest in mid-August, and single tillage mid-June during the fallow phase. This study was revised with two additional more intensive tillage treatments since 2019. The two additional treatments were 1) two tillage operations during the fallow phase and 2) one tillage during fallow phase and one tillage post wheat harvest. Grain yield varied greatly by year and location. Wheat yields ranged across years from mid-20s to 90 bu/a at Tribune and less than 10 to 100 bu/a at Garden City. Grain sorghum yields ranged from 40 to greater than 140 bu/a, depending upon year and location. Wheat yields tended to be greater with a single or two tillage operations during the fallow phase, and less with single tillage post wheat harvest at Garden City. Grain sorghum yield was less at Tribune when tilled post wheat harvest. This indicates that if a single tillage operation is needed to control troublesome weeds, that tillage during fallow prior to wheat planting may be better than tillage after wheat harvest. This study supports the hypothesis that if herbicide-resistant weed populations are high enough to cause yield reductions, then tillage might improve yields

Additive Manufacturing of Transparent Fused Quartz

This paper investigates a filament-fed process for additive manufacturing (AM) of fused quartz. Glasses such as fused quartz have significant scientific and engineering applications, which include optics, communications, electronics, and hermetic seals. AM has several attractive benefits such as increased design freedom, faster prototyping, and lower processing costs for small production volumes. However, current research into glass AM has focused primarily on nonoptical applications. Fused quartz is studied here because of its desirability for use in high-quality optics due to its high transmissivity and thermal stability. Fused quartz filaments are fed into a CO2 laser-generated molten region, smoothly depositing material onto the workpiece. Spectroscopy and pyrometry are used to measure the thermal radiation incandescently emitted from the molten region. The effects of the laser power and scan speed are determined by measuring the morphology of single tracks. Thin walls are printed to study the effects of layer-to-layer height. This information is used to deposit solid pieces including a cylindrical-convex shape capable of focusing visible light. The transmittance and index homogeneity of the printed fused quartz are measured. These results show that the filament-fed process has the potential to print transmissive optics

Nasalization by Nasalis larvatus: larger noses audiovisually advertise conspecifics in proboscis monkeys

Male proboscis monkeys have uniquely enlarged noses that are prominent adornments, which may have evolved through their sexually competitive harem group social system. Nevertheless, the ecological roles of the signals encoded by enlarged noses remain unclear. We found significant correlations among nose, body, and testis sizes and a clear link between nose size and number of harem females. Therefore, there is evidence supporting both male-male competition and female choice as causal factors in the evolution of enlarged male noses. We also observed that nasal enlargement systematically modifies the resonance properties of male vocalizations, which probably encode male quality. Our results indicate that the audiovisual contributions of enlarged male noses serve as advertisements to females in their mate selection. This is the first primate research to evaluate the evolutionary processes involved in linking morphology, acoustics, and socioecology with unique masculine characteristics

Assessing the Influence of Strategic Tillage on Crop Yields and Soil Properties in Dryland No-Tillage Systems

Implementing strategic tillage (ST) in otherwise long-term no-till (NT) systems could control herbicide resistant weeds and increase profitability of crop production in semi-arid dryland cropping systems. For the purpose of this study, ST is defined as a single tillage event (once every 6-10 years) in an otherwise NT system to reduce density of herbicide tolerant grass weeds. However, there is little information on the long-term (\u3e5 years) effects of ST on soil health parameters and crop yields. This study used long-term tillage and crop rotation plots established in 1976 at the Kansas State University Agriculture Research Center in Hays, KS. Treatments include three rotations: continuous wheat (WW), wheat-sorghum-fallow (WSF), and wheat-fallow (WF); and two tillage regimes: no-till (NT) and reduced tillage (RT). In 2016, a new tillage treatment, ST, was added to control herbicide resistant (HR) grass weeds and to mix soil to reduce nutrient and pH stratification. Soil samples were collected following wheat harvest in 2022 to investigate soil properties after 5 years of ST. Results of the 2022 sampling showed rotation and tillage had no significant effect (P \u3e 0.05) on bulk density. However, bulk density was least in the 0- to-2-inch soil depth compared to the 2- to 6-inch and 6- to 12-inch depths, with values of 1.16, 1.44, and 1.39 g/cm3, respectively. Soil organic carbon (SOC) was greatest in the 0- to 2-inch soil depth. The SOC concentration in soils under NT was not different compared to ST, whereas soils under RT had 8% less SOC than NT. Wind-erodible fraction (WEF) was not different among tillage treatments. Tillage treatments had a significant effect on mean weight diameter (MWD), with NT having the highest MWD followed by ST. Winter wheat yield was greatest in RT across the crop rotations. Strategic tillage increased wheat yields in WW compared to NT. Crop rotation, tillage intensity, and depth were all important with pH because pH was highest in WW rotation, RT tillage, and the 6- to 12-inch soil depth. Phosphorus concentrations were highest in WW and the 0- to 2-inch soil depth. Potassium had the greatest concentrations in RT and the 0- to 2-inch soil depth. Grain sorghum yield was not different between NT and ST, but yields for both were greater than RT. Overall, ST had no negative effect on soil properties or crop yield and can be a mitigation option to control herbicide resistant weeds and increase profitability of dryland crop production

Marketing, the past and corporate heritage

Argues for a more expansive conceptualisation of the past’s relevance in, and for, marketing. Such a differentiated approach to the past is pregnant with possibilities in terms of advancing scholarship apropos temporal agency in marketing along with consumption practices. Symptomatic of this perspective is the increased mindfulness of the rich palate of past-related concepts. Significantly, the corporate heritage notion - because of its omni-temporal nature - represents a distinct and meaningful vector on the past by coalescing the past, present and future into a new type of temporality. As such, the authors reason this expansive conceptualisation of ‘the past-in-marketing’ is both timely and efficacious. Whilst sensitive of the importance of the historical method in marketing and the history of marketing scholarship and practice per se. This broader marketing approach to and of the past highlights the ideational and material manifestations of the past-in-the-present and an envisaged past-in-the future