The Performance of Composite Wood/Particleboard Beams Under Two-Point Loading

Twelve composite wood/particleboard box and I beams were tested under two-point loading. The observed flexural rigidity, EI, was found to be less than the calculated values based on properties of the individual elements. Load bearing capacity was predicted on the basis of the weakest component, which in this study appeared to be the tensile strength of the particleboard. Measured maximum loads were greater than predicted loads. The load-deflection curves were linear to failure, exhibiting virtually no warning signals prior to failure. Failure in many instances was associated with nails used to fabricate the beams. Performance of the beams was estimated to be the equivalent of an intermediate grade 2 X 10 with a 50% strength reduction

Reducing Crop Production Cost

PDF pages: 2

A selective role for neuronal activity regulated pentraxin in the processing of sensory-specific incentive value

Neuronal activity regulated pentraxin (Narp) is a secreted neuronal product which clusters AMPA receptors and regulates excitatory synaptogenesis. Although Narp is selectively enriched in brain, its role in behavior is not known. As Narp is expressed prominently in limbic regions, we examined whether Narp deletion affects performance on tasks used to assess motivational consequences of food-rewarded learning. Narp knock-out (KO) mice were unimpaired in learning simple pavlovian discriminations, instrumental lever pressing, and in acquisition of at least two aspects of pavlovian incentive learning, conditioned reinforcement and pavlovian-instrumental transfer. In contrast, Narp deletion resulted in a substantial deficit in the ability to use specific outcome expectancies to modulate instrumental performance in a devaluation task. In this task, mice were trained to respond on two levers for two different rewards. After training, mice were prefed with one of the two rewards, devaluing it. Responding on both levers was then assessed in extinction. Whereas control mice showed a significant preference in responding on the lever associated with the nondevalued reward, Narp KO mice responded equally on both levers, failing to suppress responding on the lever associated with the devalued reward. Both groups consumed more of the nondevalued reward in a subsequent choice test, indicating Narp KO mice could distinguish between the rewards themselves. These data suggest Narp has a selective role in processing sensory-specific information necessary for appropriate devaluation performance, but not in general motivational effects of reward-predictive cues on performance

Most Asked Agronomic Questions

Exact date of bulletin unknown.PDF pages: 4

Children\u27s Folklore

A collection of original essays by scholars from a variety of fields—including American studies, folklore, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education—Children\u27s Folklore: A Source Book moves beyond traditional social-science views of child development. It reveals the complexity and artistry of interactions among children, challenging stereotypes of simple childhood innocence and conventional explanations of development that privilege sober and sensible adult outcomes. Instead, the play and lore of children is shown to be often disruptive, wayward, and irrational. The contributors variably con-sider and demonstrate contextual and textual ways of studying the folklore of children. Avoiding a narrow definition of the subject, they examine a variety of resources and approaches for studying, researching, and teaching it. These range from surveys of the history and literature of children\u27s folklore to methods of field research, studies of genres of lore, and attempts to capture children\u27s play and games.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1059/thumbnail.jp

Emerging Near-Real Time Forage Monitoring Technology with Application to Large Herbivore Management in Mongolia

Large herbivore livestock and wildlife in Mongolia depend almost entirely for substance on forage standing crop produced each year on natural pastureland. Consequently, both livestock and wildlife are continuously subject to environmental risk, especially drought and severe winter storms, while livestock are also subject to financial risk. As consumption-based livestock production changes to commercialized livestock production, steps taken by the livestock herder to avert both environmental and financial risk to livestock can increase environmental risk to large wild herbivores. A realistic and workable pastureland and risk management system will be critical for conservation of large herbivore habitat. New technologies are becoming available to facilitate understanding of risk and resource allocation. Texas A&M University has developed a suite of innovative technologies that facilitate resolving risk and resource allocation issues. A pre-parameterized rangeland model (i.e., PHYGROW) provides daily estimates of forage available to a mixed population of herbivores. Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS) allows prediction of diet quality of free-ranging large herbivores via fecal scans which, when coupled with advanced nutritional management software (i.e., NUTBAL), can predict performance of animals. Oregon State University has developed a computerized multi-criteria decision-making tool (i.e., KRESS) that can take landscape parameters and determine the suitability of each cell or unit of the landscape for use by large herbivores. Emerging near real-time technologies can help clarify habitat needs, identify habitat improvements, and enable better management of large herbivore wildlife and livestock

Emerging Near-Real Time Forage Monitoring Technology with Application to Large Herbivore Management in Mongolia

Large herbivore livestock and wildlife in Mongolia depend almost entirely for substance on forage standing crop produced each year on natural pastureland. Consequently, both livestock and wildlife are continuously subject to environmental risk, especially drought and severe winter storms, while livestock are also subject to financial risk. As consumption-based livestock production changes to commercialized livestock production, steps taken by the livestock herder to avert both environmental and financial risk to livestock can increase environmental risk to large wild herbivores. A realistic and workable pastureland and risk management system will be critical for conservation of large herbivore habitat. New technologies are becoming available to facilitate understanding of risk and resource allocation. Texas A&M University has developed a suite of innovative technologies that facilitate resolving risk and resource allocation issues. A pre-parameterized rangeland model (i.e., PHYGROW) provides daily estimates of forage available to a mixed population of herbivores. Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS) allows prediction of diet quality of free-ranging large herbivores via fecal scans which, when coupled with advanced nutritional management software (i.e., NUTBAL), can predict performance of animals. Oregon State University has developed a computerized multi-criteria decision-making tool (i.e., KRESS) that can take landscape parameters and determine the suitability of each cell or unit of the landscape for use by large herbivores. Emerging near real-time technologies can help clarify habitat needs, identify habitat improvements, and enable better management of large herbivore wildlife and livestock

The NASA-UC Eta-Earth Program: I. A Super-Earth Orbiting HD 7924

We report the discovery of the first low-mass planet to emerge from the NASA-UC Eta-Earth Program, a super-Earth orbiting the K0 dwarf HD 7924. Keplerian modeling of precise Doppler radial velocities reveals a planet with minimum mass M_P sin i = 9.26 M_Earth in a P = 5.398 d orbit. Based on Keck-HIRES measurements from 2001 to 2008, the planet is robustly detected with an estimated false alarm probability of less than 0.001. Photometric observations using the Automated Photometric Telescopes at Fairborn Observatory show that HD 7924 is photometrically constant over the radial velocity period to 0.19 mmag, supporting the existence of the planetary companion. No transits were detected down to a photometric limit of ~0.5 mmag, eliminating transiting planets with a variety of compositions. HD 7924b is one of only eight planets known with M_P sin i < 10 M_Earth and as such is a member of an emerging family of low-mass planets that together constrain theories of planet formation.Comment: ApJ accepted, 10 pages, 10 figures, 4 table