NONPARAMETRIC ESTIMATION OF MULTIPRODUCT AND PRODUCT-SPECIFIC ECONOMIES OF SCALE

Numerous studies have utilized nonparametric estimation of production efficiency but no such study focuses on multiproduct or product-specific economies of scale. A mathematical program is specified to nonparametrically estimate these measures for crops and livestock for Kansas farms. Results show that many farms would realize benefits from expansion.Industrial Organization,

Integration of vision and force sensors for grasping

This paper describes a set of methods that can be used to integrate real-time external vision sensing with internal force and position sensing to estimate contact forces by the fingers of a hand. Estimating these forces and contacts is essential to performing dextrous manipulation tasks. Most robotic hands are either sensorless or lack the ability to accurately and robustly report position and force information relating to contact. By adding external vision sensing, we can complement any internal sensors to more accurately estimate forces and contact positions. Experiments are described that use real-time visual trackers in conjunction with internal strain gauges and a new tactile sensor to accurately estimate finger contacts and applied forces for a three fingered robotic hand

NOTES: WOODPECKER FORAGE AVAILABILITY IN HABI- TAT DISTURBANCES OF THE BLACK HILLS

Habitat disturbance events are critical to ecological systems in which some bird species have become specialized. The vegetation community, reduced competition, ability to avoid predators, nest-site characteristics, and forage opportunities within a disturbed ecosystem are all aspects that make it desirable for selection by particular species (Svärdson 1949, Cody 1981, Martin 1998). Specifically, avian species rely on the forest conditions created by fire, insects, and disease (Brawn et al. 2001, Hunter et al. 2001, Devictor et al. 2008). In the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF) of South Dakota,two major types of natural disturbances include wildfires and mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae; MPB) infestations. Dead trees (snags) created by these disturbances attract a suite of insects and wildlife species. Bark beetles (Family: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) and wood borer beetles (Families: Buprestidae and Cerambycidae) are of particular importance to black-backed woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus; BBWO) because they feed almost exclusively on the larvae of these insects (Beal 1911, Murphy and Lehnhausen 1998, Hutto 2006, Bonnot et al. 2008, Bonnot et al. 2009). Black-backed woodpeckers are of key interest to resource management agencies due to their habitat specialization needs and the management activities like wildfire salvage logging and pre-thinning that occur in these disturbance areas (Hutto 1995, 2006). These management activities potentially reduce nest site and food availability for BBWOs and, as a result, they were recently petitioned for protection under the Endangered Species Act (Hanson et al. 2012). Following a fire event or insect infestation, the relative probability of using trees affected by the disturbance increases over surrounding healthy trees (Rota 2013). As a result, we were interested in understanding the food that is available to the woodpeckers following these forest disturbances

Laboratory Focus on Improving the Culture of Biosafety: Statewide Risk Assessment of Clinical Laboratories That Process Specimens for Microbiologic Analysis

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene challenged Wisconsin laboratories to examine their biosafety practices and improve their culture of biosafety. One hundred three clinical and public health laboratories completed a questionnaire-based, microbiology-focused biosafety risk assessment. Greater than 96% of the respondents performed activities related to specimen processing, direct microscopic examination, and rapid nonmolecular testing, while approximately 60% performed culture interpretation. Although they are important to the assessment of risk, data specific to patient occupation, symptoms, and travel history were often unavailable to the laboratory and, therefore, less contributory to a microbiology-focused biosafety risk assessment than information on the specimen source and test requisition. Over 88% of the respondents complied with more than three-quarters of the mitigation control measures listed in the survey. Facility assessment revealed that subsets of laboratories that claim biosafety level 1, 2, or 3 status did not possess all of the biosafety elements considered minimally standard for their respective classifications. Many laboratories reported being able to quickly correct the minor deficiencies identified. Task assessment identified deficiencies that trended higher within the general (not microbiology-specific) laboratory for core activities, such as packaging and shipping, direct microscopic examination, and culture modalities solely involving screens for organism growth. For traditional microbiology departments, opportunities for improvement in the cultivation and management of highly infectious agents, such as acid-fast bacilli and systemic fungi, were revealed. These results derived from a survey of a large cohort of small- and large-scale laboratories suggest the necessity for continued microbiology-based understanding of biosafety practices, vigilance toward biosafety, and enforcement of biosafety practices throughout the laboratory setting

On Bayesian Modelling of the Uncertainties in Palaeoclimate Reconstruction

We outline a model and algorithm to perform inference on the palaeoclimate and palaeoclimate volatility from pollen proxy data. We use a novel multivariate non-linear non-Gaussian state space model consisting of an observation equation linking climate to proxy data and an evolution equation driving climate change over time. The link from climate to proxy data is defined by a pre-calibrated forward model, as developed in Salter-Townshend and Haslett (2012) and Sweeney (2012). Climatic change is represented by a temporally-uncertain Normal-Inverse Gaussian Levy process, being able to capture large jumps in multivariate climate whilst remaining temporally consistent. The pre-calibrated nature of the forward model allows us to cut feedback between the observation and evolution equations and thus integrate out the state variable entirely whilst making minimal simplifying assumptions. A key part of this approach is the creation of mixtures of marginal data posteriors representing the information obtained about climate from each individual time point. Our approach allows for an extremely efficient MCMC algorithm, which we demonstrate with a pollen core from Sluggan Bog, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure

Metabolic Responses of Normal Rat Kidneys to a High Salt Intake.

In this study, novel methods were developed, which allowed continuous (24/7) measurement of arterial blood pressure and renal blood flow in freely moving rats and the intermittent collection of arterial and renal venous blood to estimate kidney metabolic fluxes of O2 and metabolites. Specifically, the study determined the effects of a high salt (HS; 4.0% NaCl) diet upon whole kidney O2 consumption and arterial and renal venous plasma metabolomic profiles of normal Sprague–Dawley rats. A separate group of rats was studied to determine changes in the cortex and outer medulla tissue metabolomic and mRNAseq profiles before and following the switch from a 0.4% to 4.0% NaCl diet. In addition, targeted mRNA expression analysis of cortical segments was performed. Significant changes in the metabolomic and transcriptomic profiles occurred with feeding of the HS diet. A progressive increase of kidney O2 consumption was found despite a reduction in expression of most of the mRNA encoding enzymes of TCA cycle. A novel finding was the increased expression of glycolysis-related genes in Cx and isolated proximal tubular segments in response to an HS diet, consistent with increased release of pyruvate and lactate from the kidney to the renal venous blood. Data suggests that aerobic glycolysis (eg, Warburg effect) may contribute to energy production under these circumstances. The study provides evidence that kidney metabolism responds to an HS diet enabling enhanced energy production while protecting from oxidative stress and injury. Metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis of kidneys of Sprague-Dawley rats fed a high salt diet

Mass Models and Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect Predictions for a Flux Limited Sample of 22 Nearby X-Ray Clusters

We define a 90% complete, volume-limited sample of 31 z<0.1 x-ray clusters and present a systematic analysis of public ROSAT PSPC data on 22 of these objects. Our efforts are undertaken in support of the Penn/OVRO SZE survey, and to this end we present predictions for the inverse Compton optical depth towards all 22 of these clusters. We have performed detailed Monte Carlo simulations to understand the effects of the cluster profile uncertainties on the SZE predictions given the OVRO 5.5-meter telescope beam and switching patterns; we find that the profile uncertainties are one of the least significant components of our error budget for SZE-based distance measurements. We also present baryonic masses and baryon mass fractions derived under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium for these 22 clusters. The mean baryonic mass fraction within R_500 \sim 500 h^-1 kpc is (7.02 \pm 0.28) x 10^-2 h^-3/2, or (19.8 \pm 0.8) x 10^-2 for h=0.5. We confirm the Allen et al. (1993) claim of an excess absorbing column density towards Abell 478, but do not find similar anomalies in the other 21 clusters in our sample. We also find some evidence for an excess of soft counts in the ROSAT PSPC data. A measurement of H_o using these models and OVRO SZE determinations will be presented in a second paper.Comment: 51 pages, 6 figures included in text. Added comparison of different cosmologies; accepted for publication in Ap

Extrasolar Planet Transits Observed at Kitt Peak National Observatory

We obtained J-, H- and JH-band photometry of known extrasolar planet transiting systems at the 2.1-m Kitt Peak National Observatory Telescope using the FLAMINGOS infrared camera between October 2008 and October 2011. From the derived lightcurves we have extracted the mid-transit times, transit depths and transit durations for these events. The precise mid-transit times obtained help improve the orbital periods and also constrain transit-time variations of the systems. For most cases the published system parameters successfully accounted for our observed lightcurves, but in some instances we derive improved planetary radii and orbital periods. We complemented our 2.1-m infrared observations using CCD z'-band and B-band photometry (plus two Hydrogen Alpha filter observations) obtained with the Kitt Peak Visitor's Center telescope, and with four H-band transits observed in October 2007 with the NSO's 1.6-m McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope. The principal highlights of our results are: 1) our ensemble of J-band planetary radii agree with optical radii, with the best-fit relation being: (Rp/R*)J = 0.0017 + 0.979 (Rp/R*)optical, 2) We observe star spot crossings during the transit of WASP-11/HAT-P-10, 3) we detect star spot crossings by HAT-P-11b (Kepler-3b), thus confirming that the magnetic evolution of the stellar active regions can be monitored even after the Kepler mission has ended, and 4) we confirm a grazing transit for HAT-P-27/WASP-40. In total we present 57 individual transits of 32 known exoplanet systems.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi

IL-17A both initiates, via IFNγ suppression, and limits the pulmonary type-2 immune response to nematode infection

Nippostrongylus brasiliensis is a well-defined model of type-2 immunity but the early lung-migrating phase is dominated by innate IL-17A production. In this study, we confirm previous observations that Il17a-KO mice infected with N. brasiliensis exhibit an impaired type-2 immune response. Transcriptional profiling of the lung on day 2 of N. brasiliensis infection revealed an increased Ifng signature in Il17a-KO mice confirmed by enhanced IFNγ protein production in lung lymphocyte populations. Depletion of early IFNγ rescued type-2 immune responses in the Il17a-KO mice demonstrating that IL-17A-mediated suppression of IFNγ promotes type-2 immunity. Notably, later in infection, once the type-2 response was established, IL-17A limited the magnitude of the type-2 response. IL-17A regulation of type-2 immunity was lung-specific and infection with Trichuris muris revealed that IL-17A promotes a type-2 immune response in the lung even when infection is restricted to the intestine. Together our data reveal IL-17A as a major regulator of pulmonary type-2 immunity such that IL-17A supports early development of a protective type-2 response by suppression of IFNγ but subsequently limits excessive type-2 responses. A failure of this feedback loop may contribute to conditions such as severe asthma, characterised by combined elevation of IL-17 and type-2 cytokines