Bedding material in dirt-floor pens reduces heat

Weather-related stressors are a well-recognized opponent to animal welfare and can have important ramifications for animal performance. Sound animal husbandry practices historically have attempted to diminish the effects of deleterious environmental factors. Providing aid to animals when temperatures are above or below their thermal neutral zone (TNZ) can improve animal welfare and/or performance. Because most breeds of cattle are not well equipped to deal with heat, the temperatures at which heat stress can begin to affect cattle can be surprisingly low. The onset of mild heat stress can occur at a temperature humidity index (THI1) value of 75, which can correspond to an ambient temperature as low as 78°F. Aside from food, water, and shelter, arguably the most widely used intervention to counteract the elements is the provision of bedding material during times of cold weather or during events for which the stress of cold may prove too difficult for animals to compensate (i.e., calving, illness, etc.). By providing a layer of insulation as bedding for animals, heat exchange via conduction from their body to the earth is decreased, allowing them to maintain body temperature at a much lower cost to their metabolism. This basic principle of insulation also may be applied in times of heat stress. In an attempt to decrease the effects of heat stress in feedlot cattle, some producers apply wheat straw or grass hay as bedding material, hypothesizing that bedding acts as an insulator from the pen floor, which otherwise serves as a reservoir and conductor of heat. Bedding materials normally are lighter in color than the pen surface, and therefore have less solar heat gain. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to examine the effects of these bedding materials on the temperature of the pen surface. Additionally, determining the effects of varying thicknesses of manure on pen surface temperatures may provide useful information for management decisions regarding pen cleaning and maintenance

Theories for multiple resonances

Two microscopic theories for multiple resonances in nuclei are compared, n-particle-hole RPA and quantized Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF). The Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model is used as test case. We find that quantized TDHF is superior in many respects, except for very small systems.Comment: 14 Pages, 3 figures available upon request

Dynamical moment of inertia and quadrupole vibrations in rotating nuclei

The contribution of quantum shape fluctuations to inertial properties of rotating nuclei has been analysed within the self-consistent one-dimensional cranking oscillator model. It is shown that in even-even nuclei the dynamical moment of inertia calculated in the mean field approximation is equivalent to the Thouless-Valatin moment of inertia calculated in the random phase approximation if and only if the self-consistent conditions for the mean field are fulfilled.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Stability of dark solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in an optical lattice

We investigate the stability of dark solitons (DSs) in an effectively one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of the magnetic parabolic trap and an optical lattice (OL). The analysis is based on both the full Gross-Pitaevskii equation and its tight-binding approximation counterpart (discrete nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation). We find that DSs are subject to weak instabilities with an onset of instability mainly governed by the period and amplitude of the OL. The instability, if present, sets in at large times and it is characterized by quasi-periodic oscillations of the DS about the minimum of the parabolic trap.Comment: Typo fixed in Eq. (1): cos^2 -> sin^

On the Nature of the Phase Transition in SU(N), Sp(2) and E(7) Yang-Mills theory

We study the nature of the confinement phase transition in d=3+1 dimensions in various non-abelian gauge theories with the approach put forward in [1]. We compute an order-parameter potential associated with the Polyakov loop from the knowledge of full 2-point correlation functions. For SU(N) with N=3,...,12 and Sp(2) we find a first-order phase transition in agreement with general expectations. Moreover our study suggests that the phase transition in E(7) Yang-Mills theory also is of first order. We find that it is weaker than for SU(N). We show that this can be understood in terms of the eigenvalue distribution of the order parameter potential close to the phase transition.Comment: 15 page

A multi-species synthesis of physiological mechanisms in drought-induced tree mortality

Widespread tree mortality associated with drought 92 has been observed on all forested continents, and global change is expected to exacerbate vegetation vulnerability. Forest mortality has implications for future biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water, and energy balance, and is poorly represented in dynamic vegetation models. Reducing uncertainty requires improved mortality projections founded on robust physiological processes. However, the proposed mechanisms of drought-induced mortality, including hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are unresolved. A growing number of empirical studies have investigated these mechanisms, but data have not been consistently analyzed across species and biomes using a standardized physiological framework. Here we show that xylem hydraulic failure was ubiquitous across multiple tree taxa at drought induced mortality. All species assessed had 60% or higher loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity, consistent with proposed theoretical and modelled survival thresholds. We found diverse responses in non-structural carbohydrate reserves at mortality, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal. Reduced non-structural carbohydrates were more common for gymnosperms than angiosperms, associated with xylem hydraulic vulnerability, and may have a role in reducing hydraulic function. Our finding that hydraulic failure at drought-induced mortality was persistent across species indicates that substantial improvement in vegetation modelling can be achieved using thresholds in hydraulic function

A multi-species synthesis of physiological mechanisms in drought-induced tree mortality

Widespread tree mortality associated with drought 92 has been observed on all forested continents, and global change is expected to exacerbate vegetation vulnerability. Forest mortality has implications for future biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water, and energy balance, and is poorly represented in dynamic vegetation models. Reducing uncertainty requires improved mortality projections founded on robust physiological processes. However, the proposed mechanisms of drought-induced mortality, including hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are unresolved. A growing number of empirical studies have investigated these mechanisms, but data have not been consistently analyzed across species and biomes using a standardized physiological framework. Here we show that xylem hydraulic failure was ubiquitous across multiple tree taxa at drought induced mortality. All species assessed had 60% or higher loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity, consistent with proposed theoretical and modelled survival thresholds. We found diverse responses in non-structural carbohydrate reserves at mortality, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal. Reduced non-structural carbohydrates were more common for gymnosperms than angiosperms, associated with xylem hydraulic vulnerability, and may have a role in reducing hydraulic function. Our finding that hydraulic failure at drought-induced mortality was persistent across species indicates that substantial improvement in vegetation modelling can be achieved using thresholds in hydraulic function