Evaluation of proposed Skylab and SSP soap products

Three personal hygiene cleansing agents and one laundry detergent (sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate), which are all candidates for use on long-duration space missions, were evaluated in terms of dermatological effects on human subjects and effects on microbiological species. None of the four materials exhibited adverse dermatological effects from either skin patch tests of two weeks duration or a simulated Skylab personal hygiene regimen of up to four weeks duration. No significant alterations in skin microflora during the use regimen were found. None of the four materials were found to serve as microbiological support media for the species tested, but a species of air-borne mold was observed to grow rapidly in a neutralized aqueous solution. None of the candidate agents was found to be strongly biocidal

Regions of the Genome Associated with Mid-Lactation Feed Efficiency in Dairy Cattle

Regions of the genome associated with variation in feed efficiency and dry matter intake were identified using data from 3306 Holstein cows from Europe and North America. For feed efficiency, regions that explained the most variation were located on chromosomes 18, 5, and 3. For dry matter intake, top regions were 26, 5, and 25. For both traits no one region explained more than 2.8 percent of the total genetic variation. From these results we conclude that feed efficiency and intake are genetically and biologically complex traits that are impacted by many factors and the exploitation of no one particular gene will generate large genetic gains in these traits

Relationship between Early Lactation BCS and Mid-Lactation Feed Efficiency in Dairy Cattle

The relationships between body condition score (BCS) observed during the first 45 days of lactation and two measures of feed efficiency, residual feed intake (RFI) and gross efficiency (GE) defined as milk energy / DMI, measured during mid-lactation were assessed in 255 first lactation Holstein cows. No significant differences in BCS at calving and at approximately 40 days in milk (DIM) nor in BCS loss during the first 25 and first 45 DIM were observed between the most feed efficient and feed inefficient cows when either RFI or GE was used as the measure of feed efficiency. However when feed efficiency was measured as GE, feed efficient cows had significantly lower BCS at 40 DIM. Our findings suggest that selection based on RFI as a measure of feed efficiency during mid-lactation should not impact BCS loss during early lactation

DUKSUP: A Computer Program for High Thrust Launch Vehicle Trajectory Design and Optimization

From the late 1960's through 1997, the leadership of NASA's Intermediate and Large class unmanned expendable launch vehicle projects resided at the NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center (LeRC). One of LeRC's primary responsibilities --- trajectory design and performance analysis --- was accomplished by an internally-developed analytic three dimensional computer program called DUKSUP. Because of its Calculus of Variations-based optimization routine, this code was generally more capable of finding optimal solutions than its contemporaries. A derivation of optimal control using the Calculus of Variations is summarized including transversality, intermediate, and final conditions. The two point boundary value problem is explained. A brief summary of the code's operation is provided, including iteration via the Newton-Raphson scheme and integration of variational and motion equations via a 4th order Runge-Kutta scheme. Main subroutines are discussed. The history of the LeRC trajectory design efforts in the early 1960's is explained within the context of supporting the Centaur upper stage program. How the code was constructed based on the operation of the Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle, the limits of the computers of that era, the limits of the computer programming languages, and the missions it supported are discussed. The vehicles DUKSUP supported (Atlas/Centaur, Titan/Centaur, and Shuttle/Centaur) are briefly described. The types of missions, including Earth orbital and interplanetary, are described. The roles of flight constraints and their impact on launch operations are detailed (such as jettisoning hardware on heating, Range Safety, ground station tracking, and elliptical parking orbits). The computer main frames on which the code was hosted are described. The applications of the code are detailed, including independent check of contractor analysis, benchmarking, leading edge analysis, and vehicle performance improvement assessments. Several of DUKSUP's many major impacts on launches are discussed including Intelsat, Voyager, Pioneer Venus, HEAO, Galileo, and Cassini

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Paleotethys was a highly mobile oceanic realm pinching into the supercontinent Pangea between Gondwana and Eurasia in the late Paleozoic/early Mesozoic. Published Paleotethyan reconstructions reveal that the time of Paleotethys closure and the position of its suture are highly debated. We present new magmatic and detrital zircon ages, separated from pre-Alpine basement and Permian to Triassic cover rocks exposed in the External Hellenides of Crete. These age data reveal Variscan and Cimmerian docking of microplates along the southern margin of Laurasia and help to constrain the time of Paleotethys closure.46% of detrital zircons from quartzite in the Variscan basement, are Pennsylvanian with concordant ages at 321. ±. 2. Ma, 310. ±. 3. Ma, and 300. ±. 3. Ma. The basement is unconformably overlain by arc-related volcanics of the Tyros Unit, magmatic zircons of which yielded a concordant U-Pb zircon age at 285. ±. 2. Ma. Thus, the metasediments of the basement, interpreted as former trench sediments, were deposited, metamorphosed and exhumed in latest Carboniferous to early Permian times (302-283. Ma). Magmatic activity during this late Variscan phase is also indicated by igneous boulders within Olenekian (meta)conglomerates of the Tyros Unit, which yielded concordant U-Pb zircon ages at 291. ±. 2 and 310. ±. 2. Ma. The late Variscan orogenic phase is attributed to the collision of the Gondwana-derived southern Minoan terrane (SMT) with Laurasia subsequent to northward subduction of Paleotethys lithosphere and Viséan collision of the northern Minoan terrane (NMT).Magmatic activity ceased during the late Permian, but revived in the Lower Triassic as is indicated by felsic volcanics (249. ±. 2. Ma, concordant U-Pb zircon) and by detrital zircons (242. ±. 3, 240. ±. 5. Ma, 237. ±. 3. Ma concordant U-Pb zircon) of the Tyros Unit. At the same time the Variscan chain was exhumed and removed as is shown by the detritus in the Lower to Middle Triassic Tyros sediments, which includes high-grade metamorphic rocks and detrital zircons with U-Pb ages ranging from 280 to 335. Ma.A significant change in the detrital components occurred in the Ladinian when the Variscan basement with its Permo-Triassic cover was thrust on top of clastic sediments, today represented by the Phyllite-Quartzite Unit s.str. The Phyllite-Quartzite Unit s.str. shows Cadomian and older - but no Variscan - detritus because of its position along the northern margin of the Cimmerian ribbon continent. Thus, in the eastern Mediterranean, Paleotethys was closed during the Ladinian and the related suture in the External Hellenides is situated between the Variscan basement (active margin in the north) and the Phyllite-Quartzite Unit s.str (passive margin in the south). Carnian crustal extension led to subsidence of the Variscan/Cimmerian chain, most parts of which merged below sea level. This is the reason why 90% of the detritus of the Carnian Tyros Beds are not related to the Variscan, but to the Cadomian and Grenvillian basement of the E-Gondwana derived Cimmerian ribbon continent

Hadley V. Baxendale: Still Crazy After All These Years? Panel Discussion

The following discussion about Hadley v. Baxendale took place on June 8, 2004, at the Conference on The Common Law of Contracts as a World Force in Two Ages of Revolution, held at the Oxstalls Campus of the University of Gloucestershire, in Gloucester, England. The Conference marked the 150th anniversary of Hadley. The following discussion was intended to be a free-ranging exploration of Hadley, its rule, its role in legal pedagogy, and its likely future

The proton and deuteron F_2 structure function at low Q^2

Measurements of the proton and deuteron $F_2$ structure functions are presented. The data, taken at Jefferson Lab Hall C, span the four-momentum transfer range $0.06 < Q^2 < 2.8$ GeV$^2$, and Bjorken $x$ values from 0.009 to 0.45, thus extending the knowledge of $F_2$ to low values of $Q^2$ at low $x$. Next-to-next-to-leading order calculations using recent parton distribution functions start to deviate from the data for $Q^2<2$ GeV$^2$ at the low and high $x$-values. Down to the lowest value of $Q^2$, the structure function is in good agreement with a parameterization of $F_2$ based on data that have been taken at much higher values of $Q^2$ or much lower values of $x$, and which is constrained by data at the photon point. The ratio of the deuteron and proton structure functions at low $x$ remains well described by a logarithmic dependence on $Q^2$ at low $Q^2$.Comment: 3 figures, submitted pape

Longitudinal-Transverse Separations of Structure Functions at Low Q2Q^{2} for Hydrogen and Deuterium

We report on a study of the longitudinal to transverse cross section ratio, $R=\sigma_L/\sigma_T$, at low values of $x$ and $Q^{2}$, as determined from inclusive inelastic electron-hydrogen and electron-deuterium scattering data from Jefferson Lab Hall C spanning the four-momentum transfer range 0.06 $< Q^{2} < 2.8$ GeV$^{2}$. Even at the lowest values of $Q^{2}$, $R$ remains nearly constant and does not disappear with decreasing $Q^{2}$, as expected. We find a nearly identical behaviour for hydrogen and deuterium.Comment: 4 pages, 2 gigure

Using estrus detection patches to optimally time insemination improved pregnancy risk in suckled beef cows enrolled in a fixed-time artificial insemination program

Citation: Hill, S. L., Grieger, D. M., Olson, K. C., Jaeger, J. R., Dahlen, C. R., Bridges, G. A., . . . Stevenson, J. S. (2016). Using estrus detection patches to optimally time insemination improved pregnancy risk in suckled beef cows enrolled in a fixed-time artificial insemination program. Journal of Animal Science, 94(9), 3703-3710. doi:10.2527/jas2016-0469A multilocation study examined pregnancy risk (PR) after delaying AI in suckled beef cows from 60 to 75 h when estrus had not been detected by 60 h in response to a 7-d CO-Synch + progesterone insert (CIDR) timed AI (TAI) program (d-7: CIDR insert concurrent with an injection of GnRH; d 0: PGF(2 alpha) injection and removal of CIDR insert; and GnRH injection at TAI [ 60 or 75 h after CIDR removal]). A total of 1,611 suckled beef cows at 15 locations in 9 states (CO, IL, KS, MN, MS, MT, ND, SD, and VA) were enrolled. Before applying the fixed-time AI program, BCS was assessed, and blood samples were collected. Estrus was defined to have occurred when an estrus detection patch was >50% colored (activated). Pregnancy was determined 35 d after AI via transrectal ultrasound. Cows (n = 746) detected in estrus by 60 h (46.3%) after CIDR removal were inseminated and treated with GnRH at AI (Control). Remaining nonestrous cows were allocated within location to 3 treatments on the basis of parity and days postpartum: 1) GnRH injection and AI at 60 h (early-early = EE; n = 292), 2) GnRH injection at 60 h and AI at 75 h (early-delayed = ED; n = 282), or 3) GnRH injection and AI at 75 h (delayed-delayed = DD; n = 291). Control cows had a greater (P < 0.01) PR (64.2%) than other treatments (EE = 41.7%, ED = 52.8%, DD = 50.0%). Use of estrus detection patches to delay AI in cows not in estrus by 60 h after CIDR insert removal (ED and DD treatments) increased (P < 0.05) PR to TAI when compared with cows in the EE treatment. More (P < 0.001) cows that showed estrus by 60 h conceived to AI at 60 h than those not showing estrus (64.2% vs. 48.1%). Approximately half (49.2%) of the cows not in estrus by 60 h had activated patches by 75 h, resulting in a greater (P < 0.05) PR than their nonestrous herd mates in the EE (46.1% vs. 34.5%), ED (64.2% vs. 39.2%), and DD (64.8% vs. 31.5%) treatments, respectively. Overall, cows showing estrus by 75 h (72.7%) had greater (P < 0.001) PR to AI (61.3% vs. 37.9%) than cows not showing estrus. Use of estrus detection patches to allow for a delayed AI in cows not in estrus by 60 h after removal of the CIDR insert improved PR to TAI by optimizing the timing of the AI in those cows

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections for Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel at s√=8 TeV with ATLAS

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections are presented for Higgs boson production in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV. The analysis is performed in the H → γγ decay channel using 20.3 fb−1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The signal is extracted using a fit to the diphoton invariant mass spectrum assuming that the width of the resonance is much smaller than the experimental resolution. The signal yields are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution. The pp → H → γγ fiducial cross section is measured to be 43.2 ±9.4(stat.) − 2.9 + 3.2 (syst.) ±1.2(lumi)fb for a Higgs boson of mass 125.4GeV decaying to two isolated photons that have transverse momentum greater than 35% and 25% of the diphoton invariant mass and each with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.37. Four additional fiducial cross sections and two cross-section limits are presented in phase space regions that test the theoretical modelling of different Higgs boson production mechanisms, or are sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model. Differential cross sections are also presented, as a function of variables related to the diphoton kinematics and the jet activity produced in the Higgs boson events. The observed spectra are statistically limited but broadly in line with the theoretical expectations