B592: Handling and Processing Broilers in Maine: Part 1—Costs and Efficiencies in Assembling Live Broilers for Processing

Processor-truckers are faced with the problem of how to move live broilers from the farm to the plant at lower cost and with less bruising. This study from 1960 was designed (1) to determine the costs and man-hour requirements for assembling live broilers, (2) to determine the importance of factors affecting assembly costs and labor requirements, and (3) to find ways of improving present conditions. An attempt was made to measure the effect of various types of broiler houses, load-out facilities, flock size and distance from farm to plant. Also an attempt was made to determine the effect of assembly crew organization on man-hour requirements and cost of assembling live broilers.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1046/thumbnail.jp

B593: Handling and Processing Broilers in Maine: Part II—Quality Losses in Live Broilers, and Methods of Handling to Reduce Bruising and to Improve Efficiency

The time spent in getting broilers from the farm to the processing plant is a brief interval, yet it is during this period that most bruising occurs. Bruising lowers the quality of birds. This study from 1960 looks at the cause and amount of quality losses in broilers when they are moved from the farm to the plant; devises methods of reducing quality losses and improving labor efficiency, and evaluates the economic significance of these methods.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1045/thumbnail.jp

Solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation with absorbing boundary conditions and source terms in Mathematica 6.0

In recent decades a lot of research has been done on the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. On the one hand, some of the proposed numerical methods do not need any kind of matrix inversion, but source terms cannot be easily implemented into this schemes; on the other, some methods involving matrix inversion can implement source terms in a natural way, but are not easy to implement into some computational software programs widely used by non-experts in programming (e.g. Mathematica). We present a simple method to solve the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation by using a standard Crank-Nicholson method together with a Cayley's form for the finite-difference representation of evolution operator. Here, such standard numerical scheme has been simplified by inverting analytically the matrix of the evolution operator in position representation. The analytical inversion of the N x N matrix let us easily and fully implement the numerical method, with or without source terms, into Mathematica or even into any numerical computing language or computational software used for scientific computing.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Recent progress toward reducing seawalls in Puget Sound

Recovery efforts for Puget Sound have focused on improving shoreline function by reducing seawalls (e.g. rock and concrete bank protection) and encouraging alternatives, such as soft shore protection. Shoreline armor was one of the key stressors identified by the Puget Sound Partnership in 2010 to protect and restore habitat. Armor is one of the Puget Sound Vital Signs, those measures used by the Puget Sound Partnership to track ecosystem health. One of the targets associated with the Vital Sign, a net reduction of the total extent of armor between 2011 and 2020, is tracked using the Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) permitting database maintained by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Projects are categorized as new, replacement and removed armor. A summary of permit information indicates that generally, trend in new shoreline armor decreased from 2005 – 2016, while the pace of hard armor removal increased. Two additional targets identified by the Partnership, emphasizes the importance of keeping intact eroding bluffs (locally referred to as feeder bluffs) that maintain Puget Sound beaches, and encouraging the use of softer, nature-based approaches to erosion control. The HPA data, combined with recent detailed mapping of coastal landforms, provide an indication of progress towards the feeder bluff target. Soft shoreline techniques have long been of interest on Puget Sound, but have been slow to be widely adopted. These soft techniques are difficult to categorize, as many are hybrids, combining natural elements and beach nourishment with more conventional rock or concrete structural measures. New technical guidance, combined with increased regulatory emphasis and locally-based outreach efforts, have led to improvements in the implementation and the success of new methods of addressing erosion. We describe significant regulatory, educational, scientific, and restoration efforts focused on this issue in Puget Sound

Improvements to a Class of Distance Matrix Methods for Inferring Species Trees from Gene Trees

Abstract Among the methods currently available for inferring species trees from gene trees, the GLASS method of Mossel and Roch (2010), the Shallowest Divergence (SD) method of Maddison and Knowles (2006), the STEAC method of Liu et al. (2009), and a related method that we call Minimum Average Coalescence (MAC) are computationally efficient and provide branch length estimates. Further, GLASS and STEAC have been shown to be consistent estimators of tree topology under a multispecies coalescent model. However, divergence time estimates obtained with these methods are all systematically biased under the model because the pairwise interspecific gene divergence times on which they rely must be more ancient than the species divergence time. Jewett and Rosenberg (2012) derived an expression for the bias of GLASS and used it to propose an improved method that they termed iGLASS. Here, we derive the biases of SD, STEAC, and MAC, and we propose improved analogues of these methods that we call iSD, iSTEAC, and iMAC. We conduct simulations to compare the performance of these methods with their original counterparts and with GLASS and iGLASS, finding that each of them decreases the bias and mean squared error of pairwise divergence time estimates. The new methods can therefore contribute to improvements in the estimation of species trees from information on gene trees.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98441/1/cmb%2E2012%2E0042.pd

Distribution and Excretion of TEGDMA in Guinea Pigs and Mice

The monomer triethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (TEGDMA) is used as a diluent in many resin-based dental materials. It was previously shown in vitro that TEGDMA was released into the adjacent biophase from such materials during the first days after placement. In this study, the uptake, distribution, and excretion of 14C-TEGDMA applied via gastric, intradermal, and intravenous administration at dose levels well above those encountered in dental care were examined in vivo in guinea pigs and mice as a test of the hypothesis that TEGDMA reaches cytotoxic levels in mammalian tissues. 14C-TEGDMA was taken up rapidly from the stomach and small intestine after gastric administration in both species and was widely distributed in the body following administration by each route. Most 14C was excreted within one day as 14 CO2. The peak equivalent TEGDMA levels in all mouse and guinea pig tissues examined were at least 1000-fold less than known toxic levels. The study therefore did not support the hypothesis

Mollusks in the Northeastern Chukchi Sea

Infaunal and epifaunal mollusks of the northeastern Chukchi Sea were sampled and 139 molluscan taxa were identified. The pattern of spatial distribution of molluscan species was determined by cluster analysis, which resulted in six infaunal and five epifaunal station groups. Species characterizing various faunal groups are defined. Stepwise multiple discriminant analysis was applied to correlate benthic biological associations with environmental variables. Delineation of infaunal groups was mainly due to percentage of sand and bottom salinity, while epifaunal groups were separated by percent gravel and bottom temperature. An increase in abundance and biomass of infaunal mollusks occurred adjacent to and north and northwest of an identified bottom front between the Bering Shelf and Resident Chukchi Water and Alaska Coastal Water. Epifaunal molluscan abundance and biomass were highest near the coast. Mollusks, especially smaller species and the juvenile stages of larger species, represent a food resource for bottom-feeding predators in the study area.Key words: Chukchi Sea, mollusk, benthic, infauna, epifauna, bottom front, bottom-feeding predators, cluster analysis, discriminant analysisOn a fait un échantillonnage des mollusques de l'endofaune et de l'épifaune du nord-est de la mer des Tchouktches et on a identifié 139 taxons de mollusques. On a déterminé le schéma de répartition géographique des espèces de mollusques au moyen d'une analyse typologique, qui a donné six groupes de stations dans l'endofaune et cinq dans l'épifaune. On définit des espèces caractéristiques des divers groupes fauniques. On a appliqué une analyse discriminante multiple séquentielle pour corréler les associations biologiques du benthos aux variables de l'environnement. La délimitation des groupes de l'endofaune était due en grande partie au taux de sable et de salinité au fond, tandis que les groupes de l'épifaune étaient répartis en fonction du taux de gravier et de température au fond. Une augmentation dans la quantité et la biomasse des mollusques de l'endofaune apparaissait près du nord et du nord-ouest d'un front de fond compris entre le plateau continental, les eaux non brassées de la mer des Tchouktches et les eaux côtières de l'Alaska. C'est près de la côte qu'on retrouvait l'abondance et la biomasse maximales des mollusques de l'épifaune. Les mollusques, surtout ceux des petites espèces et ceux des grandes espèces qui étaient au stade juvénile, représentaient une source alimentaire pour les prédateurs benthiques vivant dans la zone d'étude.Mots clés : mer des Tchouktches, mollusque, benthique, enfofaune, épifaune, front au fond, prédateurs benthiques, analyse typologique, analyse discriminant

Increased Lysis of Stem Cells but Not Their Differentiated Cells by Natural Killer Cells; De-Differentiation or Reprogramming Activates NK Cells

The aims of this study are to demonstrate the increased lysis of stem cells but not their differentiated counterparts by the NK cells and to determine whether disturbance in cell differentiation is a cause for increased sensitivity to NK cell mediated cytotoxicity. Increased cytotoxicity and augmented secretion of IFN-γ were both observed when PBMCs or NK cells were co-incubated with primary UCLA oral squamous carcinoma stem cells (UCLA-OSCSCs) when compared to differentiated UCLA oral squamous carcinoma cells (UCLA-OSCCs). In addition, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were also lysed greatly by the NK cells. Moreover, NK cells were found to lyse human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs), human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) significantly more than their differentiated counterparts or parental lines from which they were derived. It was also found that inhibition of differentiation or reversion of cells to a less-differentiated phenotype by blocking NFκB or targeted knock down of COX2 in monocytes significantly augmented NK cell cytotoxicity and secretion of IFN-γ. Taken together, these results suggest that stem cells are significant targets of the NK cell cytotoxicity. However, to support differentiation of a subset of tumor or healthy untransformed primary stem cells, NK cells may be required to lyse a number of stem cells and/or those which are either defective or incapable of full differentiation in order to lose their cytotoxic function and gain the ability to secrete cytokines (split anergy). Therefore, patients with cancer may benefit from repeated allogeneic NK cell transplantation for specific elimination of cancer stem cells