Variation in the inter-service intervals of UK dairy cows

An understanding of the normal estrous cycle length of the cow is important when managing and monitoring dairy herd fertility. Whilst the normal inter-ovulatory interval is widely considered to be 21 days, some studies have found alternative intervals to be more prevalent; previously most of the variation in interval length was expected to be between cows. The aim of this study was to assess the time between inseminations (inter-service interval, ISI), in a large number of dairy cows and to explore possible associations between cow factors and estrous cycle length. The study used ISI data from 42,252 cows in 159 herds across England and Wales. Univariate analysis of the subset of 114,572 intervals between 15 and 30 days (a range covering the increased frequency of ISIs occurring at the expected time of the first return to estrus) following an insemination revealed a modal ISI of 22 days. Primiparous heifers had a modal ISI of 21 days. There were significant differences between the distribution of ISIs for different yield groups, parity numbers and the number of inseminations. Multilevel regression modelling was used to evaluate the associations between cow factors and ISI, whilst accounting for clustering at the herd and cow level. This revealed significant associations between predicted ISI and insemination number, days in milk, lactation 305 day milk yield, and month and year of insemination. Variance partition coefficients indicated that only 1% of variation in ISIs was at the herd level, 12% at the animal level and 87% at the insemination level, indicating that cycle length varies substantially more between cycles within a cow than between cows or herds. These findings suggest the “normal” range of ISI for modern UK dairy cows is longer than expected and that there is a large amount of unexplained variation in cycle length within individual animals over time

The mobilising effect of political choice

Political choice is central to citizens’ participation in elections. Nonetheless, little is known about the individual-level mechanisms that link political choice and turnout. It is argued in this article that turnout decisions are shaped not only by the differences between the parties (party polarisation), but also by the closeness of parties to citizens’ own ideological position (congruence), and that congruence matters more in polarised systems where more is at stake. Analysing cross-national survey data from 80 elections, it is found that both polarisation and congruence have a mobilising effect, but that polarisation moderates the effect of congruence on turnout. To further explore the causal effect of political choice, the arrival of a new radical right-wing party in Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), is leveraged and the findings show that the presence of the AfD had a mobilising effect, especially for citizens with congruent views

Origin of the Local Bubble

We present a new unbiased search for OB associations in the Solar neighbourhood which have hosted the progenitor stars of the core collapse supernovae responsible for the Local Bubble in the interstellar gas. For this purpose we have analyzed a volume complete set (with a diameter of 400 pc) of B stars drawn from the Hipparcos catalogue and the Arivel data base, from which candidate members were selected by a kinematical criterion. After careful dereddening the star colours we have constructed a colour-magnitude diagram and confirmed that the Upper Scorpius, Upper Centaurus Lupus, and Lower Centaurus Crux subgroups of the Sco OB2 association are the youngest nearby OB associations. We dated their ages with theoretical isochrones in the range of 20–30 Myr, in agreement with previous work. We have traced backwards in time the paths of the stars and found that they entered the volume of the present bubble at 10 to 15 Myr ago. We argue that the Local Bubble began to form then and estimate that 14 to 20 supernovae have exploded since. The implied energy input into the ambient medium can be shown to be sufficient to excavate a bubble of the presently observed size

Global Search for New Physics with 2.0/fb at CDF

Data collected in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron are searched for indications of new electroweak-scale physics. Rather than focusing on particular new physics scenarios, CDF data are analyzed for discrepancies with the standard model prediction. A model-independent approach (Vista) considers gross features of the data, and is sensitive to new large cross-section physics. Further sensitivity to new physics is provided by two additional algorithms: a Bump Hunter searches invariant mass distributions for "bumps" that could indicate resonant production of new particles; and the Sleuth procedure scans for data excesses at large summed transverse momentum. This combined global search for new physics in 2.0/fb of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV reveals no indication of physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Final version which appeared in Physical Review D Rapid Communication

BASS XXXVII: the role of radiative feedback in the growth and obscuration properties of nearby supermassive black holes

Galaxie

Probing the structure and evolution of BASS active galactic nuclei through Eddington ratios

Galaxie

Observation of Orbitally Excited B_s Mesons

We report the first observation of two narrow resonances consistent with states of orbitally excited (L=1) B_s mesons using 1 fb^{-1} of ppbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We use two-body decays into K^- and B^+ mesons reconstructed as B^+ \to J/\psi K^+, J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^- or B^+ \to \bar{D}^0 \pi^+, \bar{D}^0 \to K^+ \pi^-. We deduce the masses of the two states to be m(B_{s1}) = 5829.4 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2 and m(B_{s2}^*) = 5839.7 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2.Comment: Version accepted and published by Phys. Rev. Let

Molecular dynamics of carrageenan composites reinforced with Cloisite Na+ montmorillonite nanoclay

[EN] Nanocomposites comprising biodegradable carrageenan and glycerol(KCg) as the host polymer, with different contents of natural montmorillonite (MMT) as filler, were prepared by a solution casting process. Different techniques have been used to determine the interaction/behavior among the different components of the samples such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and, mainly, Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS). FTIR indicates hydrogen interaction between carrageenan matrix and silicate that is confirmed by the XRD data indicating some kind of carrageenan intercalation between the MMT layers. A rather homogenous distribution of MMT into KCg matrix were observed using transmission electron microscopy. The MMT effect on the molecular mobility at the glass transition was studied by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. The MMT addition resulted in a slower relaxation and a wider distribution ofthe relaxation times. The fragility index, m, increased upon MMT incorporation, which may be attributed to a reduction in mobility chains, due to the MMT confinement of the KCg network. In addition, the apparent activation energy associated with the relaxation dynamics of the chains at Tg increased with the MMT content. The modified films developed in this paper could be used to prepare biodegradable and edible packaging films and films for biomedical applications with improved mechanical and good dielectric response.This work was supported by the Direccion General de Ciencia y Tecnologia (DGCYT) [MAT2015-63955-R]; the Vice-Rectorate for Research of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and the National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation of Peru (CONCYTEC/FONDECYT).Sanchis Sánchez, MJ.; Carsí Rosique, M.; Culebras, M.; Gomez- Clari, CM.; Rodríguez, S.; García-Torres. F. (2017). Molecular dynamics of carrageenan composites reinforced with Cloisite Na+ montmorillonite nanoclay. Carbohydrate Polymers. 176:117-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.08.012S11712617