To liberate communication : the Realist and Paul Krassner\u27s 1960s

Paul Krassner began publishing a small-circulation magazine called The Realist in New York City in 1958 because he believed there existed excessive restraints on speech in American culture. The publication began with a combination of earnest critiques and good-humored satires on such topics as organized religion, sexual mores, Cold War paranoia, and civil rights. By the mid-sixties, the magazine was enlarging the space not just for what opinions could be expressed but also for the way those opinions were expressed and, in the process, testing the boundaries of obscenity. As Krassner became a bitter opponent of the Vietnam War and the administration that waged it, he combined vulgarity and protest into a startling form of self-expression that, ultimately, resulted in the magazine’s best-remembered piece. Issues of The Realist from 1968 demonstrate that Krassner flirted with political radicalism, particularly in that heady year, but ultimately, his war was with the cultural censors. The humor in The Realist, both bold and sophomoric, led to denunciations from journalists, politicians, and feminists. The condemnation of the latter group particularly stung the usually thick-skinned editor, who had long made the case for equal pay and reproductive rights for women. The Realist is the principal example of a 1960s publication – and, by mid-decade, a widely read one – that reveled in psychedelic and sexual experimentation, condemned what it considered evil, but above all, considered the right to self-expression the most essential American value

The interactive effects of high-fiber diets and Ractopamine HCl on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, carcass fat quality, and intestinal weights

In previous research, feeding pigs high amounts of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and wheat middlings (midds) has been shown to reduce carcass yield and negatively affect iodine value (IV). The influence of Ractopamine HCl (RAC; Paylean, Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield, IN) on this response is not known; therefore, a total of 575 finishing pigs (PIC 327 × 1050, initially 123 lb) were used in two consecutive 73-d trials to determine the effects of DDGS and midds (high fiber) withdrawal 24 d before harvest in diets with or without RAC on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, and fat quality. From d 0 to 49, pigs were allotted to 1 of 2 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design based on initial pen weight. The dietary treatments included a corn-soybean meal–based control diet or diets with 30% DDGS and 19% wheat midds. Twelve pens of pigs were fed the corn-soybean meal control diet, and 24 pens were fed the high-fiber diet. During this 49 d period, pigs fed the corn-soybean meal diets had improved (P < 0.0001) ADG and F/G compared with those fed the high-fiber diets. On d 49, pens of pigs were re-allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments; pigs remained on the corn-soybean meal diets, switched from the high-fiber diet to corn-soybean meal (withdrawal diet), or were maintained on the high-fiber diet. These 3 regimens were fed with or without 9 g/ton RAC

A tunable coupling scheme for implementing high-fidelity two-qubit gates

The prospect of computational hardware with quantum advantage relies critically on the quality of quantum gate operations. Imperfect two-qubit gates is a major bottleneck for achieving scalable quantum information processors. Here, we propose a generalizable and extensible scheme for a two-qubit coupler switch that controls the qubit-qubit coupling by modulating the coupler frequency. Two-qubit gate operations can be implemented by operating the coupler in the dispersive regime, which is non-invasive to the qubit states. We investigate the performance of the scheme by simulating a universal two-qubit gate on a superconducting quantum circuit, and find that errors from known parasitic effects are strongly suppressed. The scheme is compatible with existing high-coherence hardware, thereby promising a higher gate fidelity with current technologies

MSFC's Advanced Space Propulsion Formulation Task

In NASA s Fiscal Year 2012, a small project was undertaken to provide additional substance, depth, and activity knowledge to the technology areas identified in the In-Space Propulsion Systems Roadmap, Technology Area 02 (TA-02), as created under the auspices of the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT). This roadmap was divided into four basic groups: (1) Chemical Propulsion, (2) Non-chemical Propulsion, (3) Advanced (TRL<3) Propulsion Technologies, and (4) Supporting Technologies. The first two were grouped according to the governing physics. The third group captured technologies and physic concepts that are at a lower TRL level. The fourth group identified pertinent technical areas that are strongly coupled with these related areas which could allow significant improvements in performance. There were a total of 45 technologies identified in TA-02, and 25 of these were studied in this formulation task. The goal of this task was to provide OCT with a knowledge-base for decisionmaking on advanced space propulsion technologies and not waste money by unintentionally repeating past projects or funding the technologies with minor impacts. This formulation task developed the next level of detail for technologies described and provides context to OCT where investments should be made. The presentation will begin with the list of technologies from TA-02, how they were prioritized for this study, and details on what additional data was captured for the technologies studied. Following this, some samples of the documentation will be provided, followed by plans on how the data will be made accessible

Energy-Efficient Motion Planning for Multi-Modal Hybrid Locomotion

Hybrid locomotion, which combines multiple modalities of locomotion within a single robot, enables robots to carry out complex tasks in diverse environments. This paper presents a novel method for planning multi-modal locomotion trajectories using approximate dynamic programming. We formulate this problem as a shortest-path search through a state-space graph, where the edge cost is assigned as optimal transport cost along each segment. This cost is approximated from batches of offline trajectory optimizations, which allows the complex effects of vehicle under-actuation and dynamic constraints to be approximately captured in a tractable way. Our method is illustrated on a hybrid double-integrator, an amphibious robot, and a flying-driving drone, showing the practicality of the approach

Phylogeny and phylogenetic classification of the antbirds, ovenbirds, woodcreepers, and allies (Aves: Passeriformes: Infraorder Furnariides)

The infraorder Furnariides is a diverse group of suboscine passerine birds comprising a substantial component of the Neotropical avifauna. The included species encompass a broad array of morphologies and behaviours, making them appealing for evolutionary studies, but the size of the group (ca. 600 species) has limited well-sampled higher-level phylogenetic studies. Using DNA sequence data from the nuclear RAG-1 and RAG-2 exons, we undertook a phylogenetic analysis of the Furnariides sampling 124 (more than 88%) of the genera. Basal relationships among family-level taxa differed depending on phylogenetic method, but all topologies had little nodal support, mirroring the results from earlier studies in which discerning relationships at the base of the radiation was also difficult. In contrast, branch support for family-rank taxa and for many relationships within those clades was generally high. Our results support the Melanopareidae and Grallariidae as distinct from the Rhinocryptidae and Formicariidae, respectively. Within the Furnariides our data contradict some recent phylogenetic hypotheses and suggest that further study is needed to resolve these discrepancies. Of the few genera represented by multiple species, several were not monophyletic, indicating that additional systematic work remains within furnariine families and must include dense taxon sampling. We use this study as a basis for proposing a new phylogenetic classification for the group and in the process erect new family-group names for clades having high branch support across methods. © 2009 The Willi Hennig Society

Microstructure and Properties of HVOF-Sprayed Ni-50Cr Coatings

Thermal spray coatings represent a potential cost-effective means of protecting structural components in advanced fossil energy systems. Previous work at the INL has focused on relationships between thermal spray processing conditions, structure, and properties in alumina- and silica-forming coatings, namely Fe3Al, FeAl, and Mo-Si-B alloys. This paper describes the preparation and characterization of chromia-forming Ni-50%Cr coatings, an alloy similar to the INCOCLAD 671 cladding, which has shown excellent performance in the Niles Plant service tests. The structure and properties of Ni-50Cr coatings are similar to other HVOF-sprayed metallic coatings: a typical lamellar microstructure is observed with essentially no porosity and little oxide. The microhardness and compressive residual stress both increase with increased spray particle velocity. Corrosion tests were performed on a variety of free-standing coatings (removed from the substrate, wrought Fe3Al alloy, and Grade 91 steel in a simulated coal combustion gas (N2-10%CO-5%CO2-2%H2O-0.12%H2S) and gas-slag environments (same gas, with iron sulfide powder in contact with the coating surface). The coatings tested included Fe3Al, FeAl, and Ni-50Cr alloys sprayed at different velocities. In these tests the iron aluminides in wrought and coating form showed the best performance, with Ni-50Cr coatings slightly worse; the Grade 91 steel was severely attacked