AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF GENETIC INFORMATION: LEPTIN GENOTYPING IN FED CATTLE

The use of genetic knowledge is widespread in crop production but is just recently being utilized in livestock production. This study investigates the economic value to feedlots of a polymorphism in the bovine leptin gene. Previous studies indicate that this polymorphism is associated with fat deposition. Since fed cattle are often priced on a grid that considers both yield and quality grades, fat deposition is an important factor in the value and profitability of fed cattle. Using data from 590 crossbred steers and heifers, we estimate growth curves for relevant biological traits, both with and without genotypic information. Using the resulting functions, we then simulate carcass traits to various days-on-feed and compute the associated profit under three price grids. Maximum profits are determined in an unconstrained profit maximization model and in a model that constrains cattle to be marketed in 45-head "potloads." Results indicate that leptin genotypic knowledge has little impact on optimal days-on-feed but may play a role in valuing feeder cattle. The differences in value of cattle varied by as much as $37 per head between genotypes.genetics, leptin genotype, beef cattle, value of information, Livestock Production/Industries,

A Cost-Effective Design for a Neutrino Factory

There have been active efforts in the U.S., Europe, and Japan on the design of a Neutrino Factory. This type of facility produces intense beams of neutrinos from the decay of muons in a high energy storage ring. In the U.S., a second detailed Feasibility Study (FS2) for a Neutrino Factory was completed in 2001. Since that report was published, new ideas in bunching, cooling and acceleration of muon beams have been developed. We have incorporated these ideas into a new facility design, which we designate as Study 2B (ST2B), that should lead to significant cost savings over the FS2 design.Comment: 46 pages, 38 figures; to be submitted to Physical Review Special Topics: Accelerators and Beam

Impact of Soil Moisture–Atmosphere Interactions on Surface Temperature Distribution

Understanding how different physical processes can shape the probability distribution function (PDF) of surface temperature, in particular the tails of the distribution, is essential for the attribution and projection of future extreme temperature events. In this study, the contribution of soil moisture–atmosphere interactions to surface temperature PDFs is investigated. Soil moisture represents a key variable in the coupling of the land and atmosphere, since it controls the partitioning of available energy between sensible and latent heat flux at the surface. Consequently, soil moisture variability driven by the atmosphere may feed back onto the near-surface climate—in particular, temperature. In this study, two simulations of the current-generation Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) Earth System Model, with and without interactive soil moisture, are analyzed in order to assess how soil moisture dynamics impact the simulated climate. Comparison of these simulations shows that soil moisture dynamics enhance both temperature mean and variance over regional ‘‘hotspots’’ of land–atmosphere coupling.Moreover, higher-order distribution moments, such as skewness and kurtosis, are also significantly impacted, suggesting an asymmetric impact on the positive and negative extremes of the temperature PDF. Such changes are interpreted in the context of altered distributions of the surface turbulent and radiative fluxes. That the moments of the temperature distribution may respond differentially to soil moisture dynamics underscores the importance of analyzing moments beyond the mean and variance to characterize fully the interplay of soil moisture and near-surface temperature. In addition, it is shown that soil moisture dynamics impacts daily temperature variability at different time scales over different regions in the model

Impact of Soil Moisture–Atmosphere Interactions on Surface Temperature Distribution

Understanding how different physical processes can shape the probability distribution function (PDF) of surface temperature, in particular the tails of the distribution, is essential for the attribution and projection of future extreme temperature events. In this study, the contribution of soil moisture–atmosphere interactions to surface temperature PDFs is investigated. Soil moisture represents a key variable in the coupling of the land and atmosphere, since it controls the partitioning of available energy between sensible and latent heat flux at the surface. Consequently, soil moisture variability driven by the atmosphere may feed back onto the near-surface climate—in particular, temperature. In this study, two simulations of the current-generation Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) Earth System Model, with and without interactive soil moisture, are analyzed in order to assess how soil moisture dynamics impact the simulated climate. Comparison of these simulations shows that soil moisture dynamics enhance both temperature mean and variance over regional ‘‘hotspots’’ of land–atmosphere coupling.Moreover, higher-order distribution moments, such as skewness and kurtosis, are also significantly impacted, suggesting an asymmetric impact on the positive and negative extremes of the temperature PDF. Such changes are interpreted in the context of altered distributions of the surface turbulent and radiative fluxes. That the moments of the temperature distribution may respond differentially to soil moisture dynamics underscores the importance of analyzing moments beyond the mean and variance to characterize fully the interplay of soil moisture and near-surface temperature. In addition, it is shown that soil moisture dynamics impacts daily temperature variability at different time scales over different regions in the model

Associations between Fall Distance, Age, and Trauma Outcomes in Older Adult Patients

Introduction. Falls are the leading cause of injury death amongolder adults. This study sought to determine if there are differencesbetween fall distance (ground level vs greater than groundlevel) and age (old vs very old) in terms of in-hospital mortality,orthopedic consultations, and neurological consultations. Methods. A retrospective trauma registry review was conductedof older adult patients (aged > 65 years), admitted to aMidwestern Level I trauma facility (2005 - 2010) due to a fall.Results. Of the 1,064 patients analyzed, the majority fell fromground level compared to greater than ground level (64% and36%, respectively). Median age was 80 years. Fall distance wasnot associated significantly with in-hospital mortality (OR0.88; CI 0.50 - 1.54) or neurological consultations (OR 1.02; CI0.72 - 1.43), but was associated with orthopedic consultations(OR 1.49; CI 1.09 - 2.04). Age was not associated with in-hospitalmortality or neurological or orthopedic consultations. Conclusions. Fall distance was not associated with in-hospitalmortality or receiving a neurological consultation.However, older adults who fell from greater than groundlevel were more likely to receive orthopedic consultations.There were no differences in in-hospital mortality or receivinga neurological or orthopedic consultation based onage. These findings indicated that as the older adult populationincreases, burden of care will increase for trauma centersand neurological services. KS J Med 2016;9(3):54-57

L\'evy-Schr\"odinger wave packets

We analyze the time--dependent solutions of the pseudo--differential L\'evy--Schr\"odinger wave equation in the free case, and we compare them with the associated L\'evy processes. We list the principal laws used to describe the time evolutions of both the L\'evy process densities, and the L\'evy--Schr\"odinger wave packets. To have self--adjoint generators and unitary evolutions we will consider only absolutely continuous, infinitely divisible L\'evy noises with laws symmetric under change of sign of the independent variable. We then show several examples of the characteristic behavior of the L\'evy--Schr\"odinger wave packets, and in particular of the bi-modality arising in their evolutions: a feature at variance with the typical diffusive uni--modality of both the L\'evy process densities, and the usual Schr\"odinger wave functions.Comment: 41 pages, 13 figures; paper substantially shortened, while keeping intact examples and results; changed format from "report" to "article"; eliminated Appendices B, C, F (old names); shifted Chapters 4 and 5 (old numbers) from text to Appendices C, D (new names); introduced connection between Relativistic q.m. laws and Generalized Hyperbolic law

Bridging the gap between policy and science in assessing the health status of marine ecosystems

Human activities, both established and emerging, increasingly affect the provision of marine ecosystem services that deliver societal and economic benefits. Monitoring the status of marine ecosystems and determining how human activities change their capacity to sustain benefits for society requires an evidence-based Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach that incorporates knowledge of ecosystem functioning and services). Although, there are diverse methods to assess the status of individual ecosystem components, none assesses the health of marine ecosystems holistically, integrating information from multiple ecosystem components. Similarly, while acknowledging the availability of several methods to measure single pressures and assess their impacts, evaluation of cumulative effects of multiple pressures remains scarce. Therefore, an integrative assessment requires us to first understand the response of marine ecosystems to human activities and their pressures and then develop innovative, cost-effective monitoring tools that enable collection of data to assess the health status of large marine areas. Conceptually, combining this knowledge of effective monitoring methods with cost-benefit analyses will help identify appropriate management measures to improve environmental status economically and efficiently. The European project DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) specifically addressed t hese topics in order to support policy makers and managers in implementing the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Here, we synthesize our main innovative findings, placing these within the context of recent wider research, and identifying gaps and the major future challenges

Conformational Mechanics of Polymer Adsorption Transitions at Attractive Substrates

Conformational phases of a semiflexible off-lattice homopolymer model near an attractive substrate are investigated by means of multicanonical computer simulations. In our polymer-substrate model, nonbonded pairs of monomers as well as monomers and the substrate interact via attractive van der Waals forces. To characterize conformational phases of this hybrid system, we analyze thermal fluctuations of energetic and structural quantities, as well as adequate docking parameters. Introducing a solvent parameter related to the strength of the surface attraction, we construct and discuss the solubility-temperature phase diagram. Apart from the main phases of adsorbed and desorbed conformations, we identify several other phase transitions such as the freezing transition between energy-dominated crystalline low-temperature structures and globular entropy-dominated conformations.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure