EC74-860 Corn Conditioning and Storage Systems...Characteristics and Costs

Extension Circular 74-860 is about corn conditioning and storage systems...characteristics and costs

The Role of Bike Sharing in Promoting Transport Resilience

A resilient transport network, which is significant for urban sustainability and security, is characterized by its ability to recover from disruptions subject to natural and manmade disasters. Bike sharing could act as a viable alternative in the case of public transit disruptions given its flexibility and various social, environmental, and economic benefits. This study aims to estimate quantitatively the potential of bike sharing to promote transport resilience, by using autoregressive negative binomial time series model to investigate the effects of public transit closures on bike sharing demand in Washington, D.C. area during 2015–2017. We find that (1) bike sharing can act as a supplementary mode to enhance urban transport resilience in the case of complete transit closure; (2) the proximity of bike sharing docks to metro stations has a powerful effect on propensity to use a bike sharing program; and (3) extreme weather is one of major barriers to bicycling. Planners can enhance resilience of urban transport networks by fully considering the capacity and usage of bike sharing docks, as well as the coherence of metro stations and bike sharing docks, in distributing and rebalancing activitie

Critical transmission sectors in embodied atmospheric mercury emission network in China

Atmospheric mercury is a crucial pollutant that must be well-controlled to avoid damaging public health. It is thus necessary to understand from multiple perspectives the roles played by different industrial sectors, as well as their geographical distribution. Existing studies have overlooked the transmission sectors in the economic supply chains of the embodied atmospheric mercury emission network. In this paper, we offer a betweenness-based account (BBA) for Chinese regions and industrial sectors in transmitting embodied atmospheric mercury emissions and in doing so have identified the transmitting hubs. Our results show that the Henan province acts as the transmission hub of the embodied atmospheric mercury emission network in China. The metallurgy, chemical, and construction industries generally play important roles in the transmission of embodied atmospheric mercury emissions across China. Henan's metallurgy sector, the third highest of all, is more closely linked with inter-provincial sectors than the top two transmission sectors (the metallurgy industry of Jiangsu and the chemical industry of Shandong). This study can help policy makers improve mercury control measures by focusing on transmission processes for effective and comprehensive atmospheric mercury emission control

Rural household energy consumption of farmers and herders in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Rural energy consumption not only significantly affects the national economy but also affects the living conditions of rural residents. A comprehensive survey of households in the agropastoral area of Qinghai Province was conducted from 2017-2018 to identify its energy consumption characteristics. In this paper, a typical household energy flow model was established. The results show that 1) the proportion of noncommercial energy in the agropastoral area of Qinghai Province is 52.89%, and it is affected by the ‘returning farmland to forest’ (RFF) policy and the ‘returning grazing land to grassland project’ (RGLGP). Furthermore, the household energy consumption structure has shifted from traditional biomass to coal and a combination of other energy sources. 2) Households of different cultural backgrounds have different energy consumption patterns. 3) High-income households consume more energy and have more frequent energy flows compared with low-income households. The results of this survey will help policymakers and scholars to formulate strategies for energy conservation and more effectively assess energy policies

Electromagnetic form factors in the J/\psi mass region: The case in favor of additional resonances

Using the results of our recent analysis of e^+e^- annihilation, we plot the curves for the diagonal and transition form factors of light hadrons in the time-like region up to the production threshold of an open charm quantum number. The comparison with existing data on the decays of J/\psi into such hadrons shows that some new resonance structures may be present in the mass range between 2 GeVand the J/\psi mass. Searching them may help in a better understanding of the mass spectrum in both the simple and a more sophisticated quark models, and in revealing the details of the three-gluon mechanism of the OZI rule breaking in K\bar K channel.Comment: Formulas are added, typo is corrected, the text is rearranged. Replaced to match the version accepted in Phys Rev

On the Mixing of the Scalar Mesons f0(1370)f_0(1370), f0(1500)f_0(1500) and f0(1710)f_0(1710)

Based on a $3\times3$ mass matrix describing the mixing of the scalar states $f_0(1370)$, $f_0(1500)$ and $f_0(1710)$, the hadronic decays of the three states are investigated. Taking into account the two possible assumptions concerning the mass level order of the bare states $|N>=|u\bar{u}+d\bar{d}>/\sqrt{2}$, $|S>=|s\bar{s}>$ and $|G>=|gg>$ in the scalar sector, $M_G > M_S > M_N$ and $M_G > M_N > M_S$, we obtain the glueball-quarkonia content of the three states by solving the unlinear equations. Some predictions about the decays of the three states in two cases are presented, which can provide a stringent consistency check of the two assumptions.Comment: revtex 10 pages, 1 eps figur

T cells that cannot respond to TGF-β escape control by CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells

CD4+CD25+ regulatory T (T reg) cells play a pivotal role in control of the immune response. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) has been shown to be required for T reg cell activity; however, precisely how it is involved in the mechanism of suppression is poorly understood. Using the T cell transfer model of colitis, we show here that CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells that express a dominant negative TGF-β receptor type II (dnTβRII) and therefore cannot respond to TGF-β, escape control by T reg cells in vivo. CD4+CD25+ T reg cells from the thymus of dnTβRII mice retain the ability to inhibit colitis, suggesting that T cell responsiveness to TGF-β is not required for the development or peripheral function of thymic-derived T reg cells. In contrast, T reg cell activity among the peripheral dnTβRII CD4+CD25+ population is masked by the presence of colitogenic effector cells that cannot be suppressed. Finally, we show that CD4+CD25+ T reg cells develop normally in the absence of TGF-β1 and retain the ability to suppress colitis in vivo. Importantly, the function of TGF-β1−/− T reg cells was abrogated by anti–TGF-β monoclonal antibody, indicating that functional TGF-β can be provided by a non–T reg cell source