Evaluation of the Value of Fiber in Distillers Grains Plus Solubles on Performance of Finishing Cattle

A finishing study was conducted to determine the value of the fiber in distillers grains plus solubles on cattle performance. Five treatments were evaluated: a corn control diet, 20 or 40% modified distillers grains plus solubles, plus two diets containing corn germ meal and corn bran balanced to equal the fiber content of the two modified distillers grains plus solubles diets. Th ere was a significant improvement in ADG and F:G for cattle fed modified distillers grains plus solubles compared to control. Cattle fed the corn germ meal and bran diets had increased DMI, slightly lower ADG, and poorer F:G compared to the control. Th e isolated fiber component had 83– 90% the feeding value of corn, while modified distillers grains plus solubles had 107– 108%. Other components in distillers besides fiber must improve the value of distillers compared to corn

Gonadal Malformations in Whitefish from Lake Thun: Defining the Case and Evaluating the Role of EDCs

The objectives of this project were to evaluate i) whether the gonad alterations of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus spp.) in Lake Thun represent abnormal morphological variations specific to this lake, and, if so, ii) whether the malformations are related to chemical exposure, in particular to exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs). Large-scale monitoring data revealed that, although whitefish in other lakes display some background variation of gonad morphology, the situation in Lake Thun, is unique because of the significantly higher prevalence of gonad malformations. The abnormal variations of whitefish gonad morphology include aplasias, compartmentations, fusions, and intersex. In the search for the factor(s) causing the gonad malformations, coregonids were exposed from fertilization up to maturity to Lake Thun water and plankton or to contaminants possibly being present in the lake, including trinitrotoluenes, and naphtalene sulfonates. Since these experiments are still ongoing, a conclusive answer cannot be given yet, but initial observations point to a role of the lake plankton. The possible presence of EDCs in Lake Thun was assessed using bioanalytics and biomarkers. The bioanalytical studies found estrogenic activities in concentrated plankton extracts of Lake Thun, however, estrogenic activities occurred also in plankton extracts of reference lakes. Bioassay-directed fractionation of the plankton samples points to degradation products of natural substances as a cause of the estrogenic activity. Examination of Lake Thun whitefish for EDC biomarkers such as vitellogenin, sex steroid levels or intersex frequency yielded no indications of exposure to EDCs, neither in fish with normal nor in fish with abnormal gonad morphology. Long-term laboratory exposure of developing coregonids to the prototype estrogenic compound, 17?-estradiol, resulted in an increased frequency of intersex gonads, but did not induce the other gonad malformations typical for Lake Thun coregonids. In summing up, the currently available evidence does not support an EDC or chemical etiology of the gonad malformations, however, this preliminary conclusion needs to be substantiated in the ongoing investigations. The project also highlights the need for more detailed knowledge of natural variation in wildlife populations to be able to recognize anthropogenically caused variation

Seeing the way: visual sociology and the distance runner's perspective

Employing visual and autoethnographic data from a two‐year research project on distance runners, this article seeks to examine the activity of seeing in relation to the activity of distance running. One of its methodological aims is to develop the linkage between visual and autoethnographic data in combining an observation‐based narrative and sociological analysis with photographs. This combination aims to convey to the reader not only some of the specific subcultural knowledge and particular ways of seeing, but also something of the runner's embodied feelings and experience of momentum en route. Via the combination of narrative and photographs we seek a more effective way of communicating just how distance runners see and experience their training terrain. The importance of subjecting mundane everyday practices to detailed sociological analysis has been highlighted by many sociologists, including those of an ethnomethodological perspective. Indeed, without the competence of social actors in accomplishing these mundane, routine understandings and practices, it is argued, there would in fact be no social order

Researching the use of force: The background to the international project

This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in eight countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has looked at police officers’ own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they were encouraged to talk about the use of force. The results show interesting similarities and differences across countries and demonstrate the value of using this kind of research focus and methodology

Z_2-Regge versus Standard Regge Calculus in two dimensions

We consider two versions of quantum Regge calculus. The Standard Regge Calculus where the quadratic link lengths of the simplicial manifold vary continuously and the Z_2-Regge Model where they are restricted to two possible values. The goal is to determine whether the computationally more easily accessible Z_2 model still retains the universal characteristics of standard Regge theory in two dimensions. In order to compare observables such as average curvature or Liouville field susceptibility, we use in both models the same functional integration measure, which is chosen to render the Z_2-Regge Model particularly simple. Expectation values are computed numerically and agree qualitatively for positive bare couplings. The phase transition within the Z_2-Regge Model is analyzed by mean-field theory.Comment: 21 pages, 16 ps-figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Torsional Force Microscopy of Van der Waals Moir\'es and Atomic Lattices

In a stack of atomically-thin Van der Waals layers, introducing interlayer twist creates a moir\'e superlattice whose period is a function of twist angle. Changes in that twist angle of even hundredths of a degree can dramatically transform the system's electronic properties. Setting a precise and uniform twist angle for a stack remains difficult, hence determining that twist angle and mapping its spatial variation is very important. Techniques have emerged to do this by imaging the moir\'e, but most of these require sophisticated infrastructure, time-consuming sample preparation beyond stack synthesis, or both. In this work, we show that Torsional Force Microscopy (TFM), a scanning probe technique sensitive to dynamic friction, can reveal surface and shallow subsurface structure of Van der Waals stacks on multiple length scales: the moir\'es formed between bilayers of graphene and between graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and also the atomic crystal lattices of graphene and hBN. In TFM, torsional motion of an AFM cantilever is monitored as the it is actively driven at a torsional resonance while a feedback loop maintains contact at a set force with the surface of a sample. TFM works at room temperature in air, with no need for an electrical bias between the tip and the sample, making it applicable to a wide array of samples. It should enable determination of precise structural information including twist angles and strain in moir\'e superlattices and crystallographic orientation of VdW flakes to support predictable moir\'e heterostructure fabrication.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures including supplementary material

Linking compact dwarf starburst galaxies in the resolve survey to downsized blue nuggets

Abstract We identify and characterize compact dwarf starburst (CDS) galaxies in the RESOLVE survey, a volume-limited census of galaxies in the local universe, to probe whether this population contains any residual “blue nuggets,” a class of intensely star-forming compact galaxies first identified at high redshift z. Our 50 low-z CDS galaxies are defined by dwarf masses (stellar mass M* < 109.5 M⊙), compact bulged-disk or spheroid-dominated morphologies (using a quantitative criterion, \mu _\Delta > 8.6), and specific star formation rates above the defining threshold for high-z blue nuggets (log SSFR [Gyr−1] > −0.5). Across redshifts, blue nuggets exhibit three defining properties: compactness relative to contemporaneous galaxies, abundant cold gas, and formation via compaction in mergers or colliding streams. Those with halo mass below Mhalo ∼ 1011.5 M⊙ may in theory evade permanent quenching and cyclically refuel until the present day. Selected only for compactness and starburst activity, our CDS galaxies generally have Mhalo ≲ 1011.5 M⊙ and gas-to-stellar mass ratio ≳1. Moreover, analysis of archival DECaLS photometry and new 3D spectroscopic observations for CDS galaxies reveals a high rate of photometric and kinematic disturbances suggestive of dwarf mergers. The SSFRs, surface mass densities, and number counts of CDS galaxies are compatible with theoretical and observational expectations for redshift evolution in blue nuggets. We argue that CDS galaxies represent a maximally-starbursting subset of traditional compact dwarf classes such as blue compact dwarfs and blue E/S0s. We conclude that CDS galaxies represent a low-z tail of the blue nugget phenomenon formed via a moderated compaction channel that leaves open the possibility of disk regrowth and evolution into normal disk galaxies

Attentional demand influences strategies for encoding into visual working memory

Visual selective attention and visual working memory (WM) share the same capacity-limited resources. We investigated whether and how participants can cope with a task in which these 2 mechanisms interfere. The task required participants to scan an array of 9 objects in order to select the target locations and to encode the items presented at these locations into WM (1 to 5 shapes). Determination of the target locations required either few attentional resources (“popout condition”) or an attention-demanding serial search (“non pop-out condition”). Participants were able to achieve high memory performance in all stimulation conditions but, in the non popout conditions, this came at the cost of additional processing time. Both empirical evidence and subjective reports suggest that participants invested the additional time in memorizing the locations of all target objects prior to the encoding of their shapes into WM. Thus, they seemed to be unable to interleave the steps of search with those of encoding. We propose that the memory for target locations substitutes for perceptual pop-out and thus may be the key component that allows for flexible coping with the common processing limitations of visual WM and attention. The findings have implications for understanding how we cope with real-life situations in which the demands on visual attention and WM occur simultaneously

Additive scales in degenerative disease - calculation of effect sizes and clinical judgment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The therapeutic efficacy of an intervention is often assessed in clinical trials by scales measuring multiple diverse activities that are added to produce a cumulative global score. Medical communities and health care systems subsequently use these data to calculate pooled effect sizes to compare treatments. This is done because major doubt has been cast over the clinical relevance of statistically significant findings relying on <it>p </it>values with the potential to report chance findings. Hence in an aim to overcome this pooling the results of clinical studies into a meta-analyses with a statistical calculus has been assumed to be a more definitive way of deciding of efficacy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We simulate the therapeutic effects as measured with additive scales in patient cohorts with different disease severity and assess the limitations of an effect size calculation of additive scales which are proven mathematically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We demonstrate that the major problem, which cannot be overcome by current numerical methods, is the complex nature and neurobiological foundation of clinical psychiatric endpoints in particular and additive scales in general. This is particularly relevant for endpoints used in dementia research. 'Cognition' is composed of functions such as memory, attention, orientation and many more. These individual functions decline in varied and non-linear ways. Here we demonstrate that with progressive diseases cumulative values from multidimensional scales are subject to distortion by the limitations of the additive scale. The non-linearity of the decline of function impedes the calculation of effect sizes based on cumulative values from these multidimensional scales.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Statistical analysis needs to be guided by boundaries of the biological condition. Alternatively, we suggest a different approach avoiding the error imposed by over-analysis of cumulative global scores from additive scales.</p

Associative Memory Impairments Are Associated With Functional Alterations Within the Memory Network in Schizophrenia Patients and Their Unaffected First-Degree Relatives: An fMRI Study

Memory impairments are a major characteristic of schizophrenia (SZ). In the current study, we used an associative memory task to test the hypothesis that SZ patients and first-degree relatives have altered functional patterns in comparison to healthy controls. We analyzed the fMRI activation pattern during the presentation of a face-name task in 27 SZ patients, 23 first-degree relatives, and 27 healthy controls. In addition, we performed correlation analyses between individual psychopathology, accuracy and reaction time of the task and the beta scores of the functional brain activations. We observed a lower response accuracy and increased reaction time during the retrieval of face-name pairs in SZ patients compared with controls. Deficient performance was accompanied by abnormal functional activation patterns predominantly in DMN regions during encoding and retrieval. No significant correlation between individual psychopathology and neuronal activation during encoding or retrieval of face-name pairs was observed. Findings of first-degree relatives indicated slightly different functional pattern within brain networks in contrast to controls without significant differences in the behavioral task. Both the accuracy of memory performance as well as the functional activation pattern during retrieval revealed alterations in SZ patients, and, to a lesser degree, in relatives. The results are of potential relevance for integration within a comprehensive model of memory function in SZ. The development of a neurophysiological model of cognition in psychosis may help to clarify and improve therapeutic options to improve memory and functioning in the illness