Optimizing Dual Interdependent Products from a Single Crop

The objective of the research is to determine the optimal grazing termination date that maximizes expected net returns from dual-purpose winter wheat production. Preliminary results indicate that grazing should be terminated at or before first hollow stem to generate the highest expected net returns in a dual-purpose winter wheat production enterprise.Crop Production/Industries,

AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR ANALYZING FORAGE/LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS

A mixed integer program solves for profit-maximizing forage and beef enterprises. Dry matter, total digestible nutrients, and crude protein characterize livestock nutritional needs and production of warm and cool season forages.Livestock Production/Industries,

Feedback GAP : study protocol for a cluster-randomized trial of goal setting and action plans to increase the effectiveness of audit and feedback interventions in primary care

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Optimal Grazing Termination Date for Dual-Purpose Winter Wheat Production

Dual-purpose winter wheat (fall-winter forage plus grain) production is an important economic enterprise in the southern Great Plains. Grazing termination to enable grain production is a critical decision. The objective is to determine the optimal grazing termination date for dual-purpose wheat. The value of knowing the occurrence of first hollow stem (FHS), a wheat growth threshold for grazing termination, is also determined. Results indicate that for most price situations grazing should be terminated at or before FHS. Marginal wheat returns from extended grazing were negative and the value of FHS information ranges from $1.50 to$10 per acre.dual-purpose, first hollow stem, plateau function, stocker cattle, value of information, wheat, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q12, Q16,

O-Band Subwavelength Grating Filters in a Monolithic Photonics Technology

The data communications industry has begun transitioning from electrical to optical interconnects in datacenters in order to overcome performance bottlenecks and meet consumer needs. To mitigate the costs associated with this change and achieve performance for 5G and beyond, it is crucial to explore advanced photonic devices that can enable high-bandwidth interconnects via wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) in photonic integrated circuits. Subwavelength grating (SWG) filters have shown great promise for WDM applications. However, the small feature sizes necessary to implement these structures have prohibited them from penetrating into industrial applications. To explore the manufacturability and performance of SWG filters in an industrial setting, we fabricate and characterize O-band subwavelength grating filters using the monolithic photonics technology at GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF). We demonstrate a low drop channel loss of -1.2 dB with a flat-top response, a high extinction ratio of -30 dB, a 3 dB channel width of 5 nm and single-source thermal tunability without shape distortion. This filter structure was designed using elements from the product design kit provided by GF and functions in a compact footprint of 0.002 mm2 with a minimum feature size of 150 nm.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Assessing the Climate Change Vulnerability of Ecosystem Types of the Southwestern U.S.

Climate change is challenging scientists and decision-makers to understand the complexities of climate change and to predict the related effects at scales relevant to environmental policy and the management of ecosystem services. Extraordinary change in climate, and the ensuing impacts to ecosystem services, are widely anticipated for the southwestern United States. Predicting the vulnerability of Southwest ecosystems and their components has been a priority of natural resource organizations over the past decade. Supplementing vulnerability assessments in the region with geospatial inputs of high thematic and spatial detail has become vital for supporting local analyses, planning, and decisions. In this context has come the opportunity to build upon a framework of major ecosystem types of the Southwest and to assess vulnerability to climate change for each type. Herein are presented three studies that set the backdrop for vulnerability assessment, detail a novel correlative modeling procedure to predict the location and the magnitude of vulnerability to familiar vegetation patterns, and then explore applications of the resulting geospatial vulnerability surface: 1) considerations for evaluating or designing a vulnerability assessment; 2) an overview of the vegetation and climate of major ecosystem types, and 3) a climate change vulnerability assessment for all major ecosystem types of the Southwest. This work has resulted in a regionwide vulnerability surface of greater extent and higher spatial and thematic resolution than previous modeling efforts, giving local managers information on the location and degree of climate risk to vegetation resources

Recombinant Protein Production and Insect Cell Culture and Process

A process has been developed for recombinant production of selected polypeptides using transformed insect cells cultured in a horizontally rotating culture vessel modulated to create low shear conditions. A metabolically transformed insect cell line is produced using the culture procedure regardless of genetic transformation. The recombinant polypeptide can be produced by an alternative process using virtually infected or stably transformed insect cells containing a gene encoding the described polypeptide. The insect cells can also be a host for viral production

Ultra-small microorganisms in the polyextreme conditions of the Dallol volcano, Northern Afar, Ethiopia

The Dallol geothermal area in the northern part of the Danakil Depression (up to 124–155 meter below sea level) is deemed one of the most extreme environments on Earth. The area is notable for being part of the Afar Depression, an incipient seafloor-spreading center located at the triple junction, between Nubian, Somali and Arabian plates, and for hosting environments at the very edge of natural physical-chemical extremities. The northern part of the Danakil Depression is dominated by the Assale salt plain (an accumulation of marine evaporite deposits) and hosts the Dallol volcano. Here, the interaction between the evaporitic deposit and the volcanisms have created the unique Dallol hot springs, which are highly acidic (pH ~ 0) and saline (saturation) with maximum temperatures ranging between 90 and 109 °C. Here we report for the first time evidence of life existing with these hot springs using a combination of morphological and molecular analyses. Ultra-small structures are shown to be entombed within mineral deposits, which are identified as members of the Order Nanohaloarchaea. The results from this study suggest the microorganisms can survive, and potential live, within this extreme environment, which has implications for understanding the limits of habitability on Earth and on (early) Mars

Growing Three-Dimensional Corneal Tissue in a Bioreactor

Spheroids of corneal tissue about 5 mm in diameter have been grown in a bioreactor from an in vitro culture of primary rabbit corneal cells to illustrate the production of optic cells from aggregates and tissue. In comparison with corneal tissues previously grown in vitro by other techniques, this tissue approximates intact corneal tissue more closely in both size and structure. This novel three-dimensional tissue can be used to model cell structures and functions in normal and abnormal corneas. Efforts continue to refine the present in vitro method into one for producing human corneal tissue to overcome the chronic shortage of donors for corneal transplants: The method would be used to prepare corneal tissues, either from in vitro cultures of a patient s own cells or from a well-defined culture from another human donor known to be healthy. As explained in several articles in prior issues of NASA Tech Briefs, generally cylindrical horizontal rotating bioreactors have been developed to provide nutrient-solution environments conducive to the 30 NASA Tech Briefs, October 2003 growth of delicate animal cells, with gentle, low-shear flow conditions that keep the cells in suspension without damaging them. The horizontal rotating bioreactor used in this method, denoted by the acronym "HARV," was described in "High-Aspect-Ratio Rotating Cell-Culture Vessel" (MSC-21662), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 16, No. 5 (May, 1992), page 150