Pen Density and Straw Bedding During Feedlot Finishing

Two experiments evaluated effects of straw bedding (in sheltered and unsheltered facilities) and pen density (in unsheltered facilities) on cattle performance during winter/spring (mid-December to late March) seasons. Bedding had no effect on overall performance in the sheltered facilities, but performance improvements were noted from December through February in unsheltered facilities. Lowering pen density(increasing pen space per animal) improved performance and lowered mud condition scores on the animal and in the feedlot

Effect of High Roughage and High Energy Diets on Body Temperature

Four heifers were used in two trials comparing the effect of high energy and high roughage diets on three body temperature measurements. Body temperatures were measured in the vagina, in the ear canal near the tympanic membrane, and in the rumen. The high roughage diet lowered all three measures of body temperatures as compared with the high energy diet. Vaginal, tympanic, and ruminal temperature all appeared to effectively measure body temperature as they followed the same diurnal cycle; however, ruminal temperatures were, on average, 0.5 to 1.4°F higher than other body temperature measures

Body Temperature in Free-Roaming Beef Cattle

Body temperature (BT) measurements are traditionally used in diagnosing sick animals, but may also be used as an indicator of stress or activity. Based on results of metabolism studies, Mader et al. (1999) reported that BT can vary as much as 0.9oC and can depend on metabolisable energy (ME) of the diet consumed. Acceptable measures of BT can be obtained from the rectum, vagina, or ear canal. Technologies are also being developed for continuously monitoring BT via radio-telemetry. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of high concentrate (low fibre) versus high fibre diets on BT, assess the capabilities of obtaining BT in free-roaming cattle, and compare temperatures taken in the rumen with vaginal and tympanic temperatures

Economic Development and Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative

The authors discuss how Maine’s Sustainability Solu­tions Initiative (SSI) can contribute to economic devel­opment in the state. SSI research is covering five of the seven targeted technology areas identified in recent reports as being important for economic development in the state (forestry and agriculture, environmental, information, composites, marine and aquaculture). The authors note how the broad scope of research carried out through SSI provides opportunities to catalyze new commercial opportunities. As important, SSI is providing many students with a unique learn­ing environment that will prepare them for the new knowledge-based economy

Four-Body Model for Transfer Excitation

We present here a four-body model for transfer-excitation collisions, which we call the four-body transfer-excitation (4BTE) model. Each two-body interaction is explicitly included in the 4BTE model, allowing us to study the effects of individual two-body interactions. We apply our model to fully differential cross sections for proton+helium collisions, and study the effect of the incident projectile-atom interaction, the scattered projectile-ion interaction, the projectile-nuclear interaction, and electron correlation within the target atom

Managing the middle ground: forests in the transition zone between cities and remote areas

In many parts of the world there are extensive landscapes where forests and people strongly intermingle, notably in the suburbs and exurbs of cities. This landscape of transitional forest generally receives limited attention from policy makers and researchers who tend to be rooted in traditions centered on either urban planning or management of natural resources in rural areas. The transitional forest is on the periphery of both perspectives, but it is a large area that provides numerous important values (biodiversity, ecosystem function, forest products, and amenities) to the people that live in them and their neighboring cities. Here we argue for increased attention to transitional forests, identify major challenges, and suggest changes to planning and management practices needed to ensure that the values of these forests are sustained

Late Cretaceous to Paleocene Metamorphism and Magmatism in the Funeral Mountains Metamorphic Core Complex, Death Valley, California

Amphibolite-facies Proterozoic metasedimentary rocks below the low-angle Cenozoic Boundary Canyon Detachment record deep crustal processes related to Mesozoic crustal thickening and subsequent extension. A 91.5 ± 1.4 Ma Th-Pb SHRIMP-RG (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe–reverse geometry) monazite age from garnet-kyanite-staurolite schist constrains the age of prograde metamorphism in the lower plate. Between the Boundary Canyon Detachment and the structurally deeper, subparallel Monarch Spring fault, prograde metamorphic fabrics are overprinted by a pervasive greenschist-facies retrogression, high-strain subhorizontal mylonitic foliation, and a prominent WNW-ESE stretching lineation parallel to corrugations on the Boundary Canyon Detachment. Granitic pegmatite dikes are deformed, rotated into parallelism, and boudinaged within the mylonitic foliation. High-U zircons from one muscovite granite dike yield an 85.8 ± 1.4 Ma age. Below the Monarch Spring fault, retrogression is minor, and amphibolite-facies mineral elongation lineations plunge gently north to northeast. Multiple generations of variably deformed dikes, sills, and leucosomal segregations indicate a more complex history of partial melting and intrusion compared to that above the Monarch Spring fault, but thermobarometry on garnet amphibolites above and below the Monarch Spring fault record similar peak conditions of 620–680 °C and 7–9 kbar, indicating minor (\u3c3–5 km) structural omission across the Monarch Spring fault. Discordant SHRIMP-RG U-Pb zircon ages and 75–88 Ma Th-Pb monazite ages from leucosomal segregations in paragneisses suggest that partial melting of Proterozoic sedimentary protoliths was a source for the structurally higher 86 Ma pegmatites. Two weakly deformed two-mica leucogranite dikes that cut the high-grade metamorphic fabrics below the Monarch Spring fault yield 62.3 ± 2.6 and 61.7 ± 4.7 Ma U-Pb zircon ages, and contain 1.5–1.7 Ga cores. The similarity of metamorphic, leucosome, and pegmatite ages to the period of Sevier belt thrusting and the period of most voluminous Sierran arc magmatism suggests that both burial by thrusting and regional magmatic heating contributed to metamorphism and subsequent partial melting