Clasts in the CM2 carbonaceous chondrite Lonewolf Nunataks 94101: evidence for aqueous alteration prior to complex mixing

Clasts in the CM2 carbonaceous chondrite Lonewolf Nunataks (LON) 94101 have been characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopy and electron microprobe analysis to determine their degrees of aqueous alteration, and the timing of alteration relative to incorporation of clasts into the host. The provenance of the clasts, and the mechanism by which they were incorporated and mixed with their host material are also considered. Results show that at least five distinct types of clasts occur in LON 94101, of which four have been aqueously altered to various degrees and one is largely anhydrous. The fact that they have had different alteration histories implies that the main part of aqueous activity occurred prior to the mixing and assimilation of the clasts with their host. Further, the presence of such a variety of clasts suggests complex mixing in a dynamic environment involving material from various sources. Two of the clasts, one containing approximately 46 vol% carbonate and the other featuring crystals of pyrrhotite up to approximately 1 mm in size, are examples of unusual lithologies and indicate concentration of chemical elements in discrete areas of the parent body(ies), possibly by flow of aqueous solutions

The evaluation of liquid disinfectants to reduce Salmonella contamination on animal food manufacturing surfaces

Citation: Muckey, M. B., Huss, A. R., & Jones, C. K. (2016). The evaluation of liquid disinfectants to reduce Salmonella contamination on animal food manufacturing surfaces. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 79-79. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-168Recent research had demonstrated that Salmonella and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus have been isolated from feed, ingredients, and feed manufacturing equipment surfaces. However, there is limited data regarding the sanitation of animal food manufacturing surfaces. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of liquid chemical treatments to reduce Salmonella contamination of metal surfaces. Metal coupons (103cm2, stainless steel 316; Built-so-Well, Manhattan, KS) were placed in sterile Petri dish, and inoculated with 1 mL of Salmonella Typhimurium Coupons were incubated overnight at 35°C, then subjected to treatments for 15 min: 1) no inoculation or sanitation treatment (positive control), 2) inoculated with no sanitation treatment (negative control), 3) inoculated and treated with a liquid alcohol-based commercial equipment sanitizer (DrySan Duo, Ecolab, St. Paul, MN), and 4) inoculated and treated with a liquid formaldehyde-based commercial product (SalCURB; Kemin Inc., Des Moines, IA). Immediately following treatment, excess material was removed by tapping. The coupon was then swabbed and the swab vortexed in neutralizing broth (EMD Chemicals, Darmstadt, Germany) before dilution. Samples were then serial diluted (10?1 to 10?6) and spread to Trypticase Soy Agar plates. Plates were incubated at 35°C for 24 h, and then enumerated. The quantity of Salmonella colony forming units (CFU) are depicted as CFU/cm2. Data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS as a completely randomized design with 3 replicates per treatment. As expected, treatment affected (P < 0.0001) residual Salmonella concentration, and there was no growth on the positive control treatment. The liquid formaldehyde-based commercial product was highly effective, resulting in no detectable growth (P < 0.05). Treating metal surfaces with the liquid alcohol-based commercial equipment sanitizer reduced (P < 0.05) Salmonella concentrations by 2 logs compared to the negative control. Liquid sanitizer treatment of metal surfaces led to a reduction in Salmonella, and can be effective steps in bacterial contamination in feed and animal food manufacturing. However, liquid sanitizers have drawbacks because they may be corrosive and most feed manufacturing equipment is not designed as clean-in-place to withstand liquid sanitation. More research is needed to evaluate dry sanitation methods that are able to break biofilms and sanitize animal food manufacturing surfaces

Coating dog kibble with a commercial liquid acidifier reduces the risk of Salmonella cross-contamination

Citation: Huss, A. R., Deliephan, A., Fuller, J. C., & Jones, C. K. (2016). Coating dog kibble with a commercial liquid acidifier reduces the risk of Salmonella cross-contamination. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 102-102. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-216In recent years, several pet food recalls have been attributed to Salmonella contamination. In addition to the negative impacts on animal health, pet foods contaminated with Salmonella have been linked to infection in humans. To help reduce the risks to humans, the Food and Drug Administration has set forth a zero-tolerance policy for Salmonella in pet foods. Typically, the preconditioner and extruder operate at sufficient temperatures to destroy pathogenic bacteria. However, there is the potential for post-processing cross-contamination to adulterate the product. One potential method to reduce the risk of Salmonella cross-contamination in pet foods is through the addition of chemical additive coatings. The objective of this research was to evaluate the ability of the liquid acid, ?-hydroxy-?-methylbutyric acid (HMB; Metabolic Technologies Inc, Ames, IA), to reduce cross-contamination of dry extruded dog kibble with Salmonella. Liquid HMB was applied to a single formula of dog kibble at inclusion levels of 0, 0.9 and 1.5% (w:w) using a laboratory-scale mixer. The coated kibbles were then inoculated with Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Serovar Enteritidis (ATCC 13076), grown in trypticase soy broth (TSB). Inoculated kibbles were enumerated for Salmonella on d 0, 1, 2, 7, and 14 post-inoculation. For enumerations, a subsample was collected, serial diluted and spread plated to Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate (XLD) agar. All inoculated plates were incubated at 37°C for 24 h, after which black colonies, typical for Salmonella, were counted and cfu/g calculated. The effects of HMB concentration, enumeration day and their interaction were all significant (P < 0.0001) on the resulting Salmonella concentration. Salmonella counts from Day 0 were 6.99, 5.59, and 4.88 log10 cfu/g for 0, 0.9 and 1.5% HMB, respectively. For HMB levels of 0.9 and 1.5%, counts were below the detectable limit for d 1, 2, 7, and 14. For 0% HMB, the Salmonella counts were found to decrease over time to 4.80, 3.99, 2.80, and 3.14 log10 cfu/g for d 1, 2, 7, and 14, respectively. Overall, the HMB coating was effective at reducing Salmonella artificially inoculated to dog kibbles. Further research is warranted to evaluate the minimum effective dose of HMB to reduce Salmonella in dog and cat kibbles

Global glacier volume projections under high-end climate change scenarios

The Paris agreement aims to hold global warming to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C relative to the pre-industrial period. Recent estimates based on population growth and intended carbon emissions from participant countries, suggest global warming may exceed this ambitious target. Here we present glacier volume projections for the end of this century, under a range of high-end climate change scenarios, defined as exceeding +2°C global average warming relative to the preindustrial period. Glacier volume is modelled by developing an elevation-dependent mass balance model for the Joint UK Land Environmental Simulator (JULES). To do this, we modify JULES to include glaciated and un-glaciated surfaces that can exist at multiple heights within a single grid-box. Present day mass balance is calibrated by tuning albedo, wind speed, precipitation and temperature lapse rates to obtain the best agreement with observed mass balance profiles. JULES is forced with an ensemble of six Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models which were downscaled using the high resolution HadGEM3-A atmosphere only global climate model. The ensemble mean volume loss at the end of the century plus/minus one standard deviation is, minus;64±5% for all glaciers excluding those on the peripheral of the Antarctic ice sheet. The uncertainty in the multi-model mean is rather small and caused by the sensitivity of HadGEM3-A to the boundary conditions supplied by the CMIP5 models. The regions which lose more than 75% of their initial volume by the end of the century are; Alaska, Western Canada and US, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russian Arctic, Central Europe, Caucasus, High Mountain Asia, Low Latitudes, Southern Andes and New Zealand. The ensemble mean ice loss expressed in sea-level equivalent contribution is 215.2±21.3mm. The largest contributors to sea level rise are Alaska (44.6±1.1mm), Arctic Canada North and South (34.9±3.0mm), Russian Arctic (33.3±4.8mm), Greenland (20.1±4.4), High Mountain Asia (combined Central Asia, South Asia East and West), (18.0±0.8mm), Southern Andes (14.4±0.1mm) and Svalbard (17.0±4.6mm). Including parametric uncertainty in the calibrated mass balance parameters, gives an upper bound global volume loss of 247.3mm, sea-level equivalent by the end of the century. Such large ice losses will have inevitable consequences for sea-level rise and for water supply in glacier-fed river systems

Precise predictions for the angular coefficients in Z-boson production at the LHC

The angular distributions of lepton pairs in the Drell-Yan process can provide rich information on the underlying QCD production mechanisms. These dynamics can be parameterised in terms of a set of frame dependent angular coefficients, Ai=0,…,7, which depend on the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and rapidity of the lepton pair. Motivated by recent measurements of these coefficients by ATLAS and CMS, and in particular by the apparent violation of the Lam-Tung relation A0−A2=0, we perform a precision study of the angular coefficients at O(α3s) in perturbative QCD. We make predictions relevant for pp collisions at s√=8 TeV, and perform comparisons with the available ATLAS and CMS data as well as providing predictions for a prospective measurement at LHCb. To expose the violation of the Lam-Tung relationship we propose a new observable ΔLT=1−A2/A0 that is more sensitive to the dynamics in the region where A0 and A2 are both small. We find that the O(α3s) corrections have an important impact on the pT,Z distributions for several of the angular coefficients, and are essential to provide an adequate description of the data. The compatibility of the available ATLAS and CMS data is reassessed by performing a partial χ2 test with respect to the central theoretical prediction which shows that χ2/Ndata is significantly reduced by going from O(α2s) to O(α3s)

Precise predictions for WH+jet production at the LHC

We present precise predictions for the production of a Higgs boson in association with a hadronic jet and a W boson at hadron colliders. The behaviour of QCD corrections are studied for fiducial cross sections and distributions of the charged gauge boson and jet-related observables. The inclusive process (at least one resolved jet) and the exclusive process (exactly one resolved jet) are contrasted and discussed. The inclusion of QCD corrections up to O(α3s)leads to a clear stabilisation of the predictions and contributes substantially to a reduction of remaining theoretical uncertaintie

Phase correlation of laser waves with arbitrary frequency spacing

The theoretically predicted correlation of laser phase fluctuations in Lambda-type interaction schemes is experimentally demonstrated. We show, that the mechanism of correlation in a Lambda scheme is restricted to high frequency noise components, whereas in a double-$\Lambda$ scheme, due to the laser phase locking in closed-loop interaction, it extends to all noise frequencies. In this case the correlation is weakly sensitive to coherence losses. Thus the double-Lambda scheme can be used to correlate e.m. fields with carrier frequency differences beyond the GHz regime.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure