Lightside Atmospheric Revitalization System

The system was studied as a replacement to the present baseline LiOH system for extended duration shuttle missions. The system consists of three subsystems: a solid amine water desorbed regenerable carbon dioxide removal system, a water vapor electrolysis oxygen generating system, and a Sabatier reactor carbon dioxide reduction system. The system is designed for use on a solar powered shuttle vehicle. The majority of the system's power requirements are utilized on the Sun side of each orbit, when solar power is available

Gene Flow in Complex Landscapes: Testing Multiple Hypotheses with Causal Modeling.

Predicting population-level effects of landscape change depends on identifying factors that influence population connectivity in complex landscapes. However, most putative movement corridors and barriers have not been based on empirical data. In this study, we identify factors that influence connectivity by comparing patterns of genetic similarity among 146 black bears (Ursus americanus), sampled across a 3,000-km2 study area in northern Idaho, with 110 landscape-resistance hypotheses. Genetic similarities were based on the pairwise percentage dissimilarity among all individuals based on nine microsatellite loci (average expected heterozygosityp0.79). Landscape-resistance hypotheses describe a range of potential relationships between movement cost and land cover, slope, elevation, roads, Euclidean distance, and a putative movement barrier. These hypotheses were divided into seven organizational models in which the influences of barriers, distance, and landscape features were statistically separated using partial Mantel tests. Only one of the competing organizational models was fully supported: patterns of genetic structure are primarily related to landscape gradients of land cover and elevation. The alternative landscape models, isolation by barriers and isolation by distance, are not supported. In this black bear population, gene flow is facilitated by contiguous forest cover at middle elevations

Adiabatically coupled systems and fractional monodromy

We present a 1-parameter family of systems with fractional monodromy and adiabatic separation of motion. We relate the presence of monodromy to a redistribution of states both in the quantum and semi-quantum spectrum. We show how the fractional monodromy arises from the non diagonal action of the dynamical symmetry of the system and manifests itself as a generic property of an important subclass of adiabatically coupled systems

Effect of heifer calving date on longevity and lifetime productivity

Longevity and lifetime productivity are important factors in profitability of the beef cow herd. Therefore, a concern for many producers is the productivity and longevity of the individual cow in their herd. The 2007-08 survey from National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) reported that the largest percentages of cows (33%) are culled because they do not become pregnant during the breeding season. It also reported that 15.6% of all culled cows leave the herd before 5 years of age, and an additional 31.8% leave the herd between 5 and 9 years of age. Research has reported that it takes 5 calves to pay for the development costs and annual maintenance of a replacement heifer (E.M. Mousel, Unpublished data). Therefore, to be sustainable, producers need to manage their herd to reduce the number of cows that are culled at a young age

Evolutionary Roots of Property Rights; The Natural and Cultural Nature of Human Cooperation

Debates about the role of natural and cultural selection in the development of prosocial, antisocial and socially neutral mechanisms and behavior raise questions that touch property rights, cooperation, and conflict. For example, some researchers suggest that cooperation and prosociality evolved by natural selection (Hamilton 1964, Trivers 1971, Axelrod and Hamilton 1981, De Waal 2013, 2014), while others claim that natural selection is insufficient for the evolution of cooperation, which required in addition cultural selection (Sterelny 2013, Bowles and Gintis 2003, Seabright 2013, Norenzayan 2013). Some scholars focus on the complexity and hierarchical nature of the evolution of cooperation as involving different tools associated with lower and the higher levels of competition (Nowak 2006, Okasha 2006); others suggest that humans genetically inherited heuristics that favor prosocial behavior such as generosity, forgiveness or altruistic punishment (Ridley 1996, Bowles and Gintis 2004, Rolls 2005). We argue these mechanisms are not genetically inherited; rather, they are features inherited through cultural selection. To support this view we invoke inclusive fitness theory, which states that individuals tend to maximize their inclusive fitness, rather than maximizing group fitness. We further reject the older notion of natural group selection - as well as more recent versions (West, Mouden, Gardner 2011) – which hold that natural selection favors cooperators within a group (Wynne-Edwards 1962). For Wynne-Edwards, group selection leads to group adaptations; the survival of individuals therefore depends on the survival of the group and a sharing of resources. Individuals who do not cooperate, who are selfish, face extinction due to rapid and over-exploitation of resources

Planning the Future of U.S. Particle Physics (Snowmass 2013): Chapter 4: Cosmic Frontier

These reports present the results of the 2013 Community Summer Study of the APS Division of Particles and Fields ("Snowmass 2013") on the future program of particle physics in the U.S. Chapter 4, on the Cosmic Frontier, discusses the program of research relevant to cosmology and the early universe. This area includes the study of dark matter and the search for its particle nature, the study of dark energy and inflation, and cosmic probes of fundamental symmetries.Comment: 61 page

Genetic Sampling of Palmer\u27s Chipmunks in the Spring Mountains, Nevada

Palmer\u27s chipmunk (Neotamias palmeri) is a medium-sized chipmunk whose range is limited to the higherelevation areas of the Spring Mountain Range, Nevada. A second chipmunk species, the Panamint chipmunk (Neotamias panamintinus), is more broadly distributed and lives in lower-elevation, primarily pinyon-juniper (Pinus monophylla-Juniperus osteosperma) habitat types. Panamint chipmunks are not closely related to Palmer\u27s, but field identification of the 2 species is unreliable. Palmer\u27s chipmunk is a species of concern in the state of Nevada and is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered. As such, conservation of Palmer\u27s chipmunks is a priority in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. We sampled putative Palmer\u27s chipmunks from 13 sites distributed across the Spring Mountains during 2010–2011. We removed Panamint chipmunks by using DNA-based identifications and then analyzed the genetic population structure of Palmer\u27s chipmunks by using a panel of 9 microsatellites. Of the 228 samples that were genotyped, 186 were Palmer\u27s; there was no evidence of hybridization between species. Four sites had exclusively Panamint chipmunks, 5 had exclusively Palmer\u27s chipmunks, and 3 had a mixture of the 2 species. In this study, Palmer\u27s chipmunks were exclusively captured at sites above 2400 m elevation, and Panamint chipmunks were exclusively captured at sites below 2200 m. Panamint chipmunks were trapped in areas typed as pinyon-juniper, but they were also trapped at sites typed as ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and mixed conifer. Both species were trapped at 3 sites; at all 3 sites, the lowerelevation traps contained Panamint chipmunks and the higher ones Palmer\u27s chipmunks. Population structure within Palmer\u27s chipmunks was minimal: heterozygosity was relatively high, and the populations displayed no signs of recent bottlenecks. Indications are that the distribution of Palmer\u27s chipmunk is limited to higher-elevation areas in the Spring Mountains, but within this area, Palmer\u27s chipmunk occurs as a single, large, well-connected, and stable population