Innovative Sustainable Water Management Practices in Solar Residential Design

This paper communicates the results of an architectural research project which sought innovative design strategies for achieving energy and resource efficiencies in water management systems traditionally used in single-family housing. It describes the engineering of an efficient, multifaceted, and fully integrated water management system for a domesticenvironment of 800 sq. ft., entirely powered by solar energy. The four innovations whose details are conveyed include the use of alternate materials for piping distribution and collection, the use of water in solar energy generation, the design of a building skin which capitalizes on water's capacity to store heat as well as the design of a ecological groundscape which re-usesand filters waste water and rain water.Keywords: energy, plumbing, home desig

Riparian forests with and without grass filters as buffers of concentrated flow from crop fields

Paper presented at the 11th North American Agroforesty Conference, which was held May 31-June 3, 2009 in Columbia, Missouri.In Gold, M.A. and M.M. Hall, eds. Agroforestry Comes of Age: Putting Science into Practice. Proceedings, 11th North American Agroforestry Conference, Columbia, Mo., May 31-June 3, 2009.A vegetation inventory within naturally occurring forested riparian buffers (natural forest buffers) and a survey comparing buffering of concentrated flow paths (CFPs) by natural forest buffers with and without planted grass filters was conducted along first and second order streams in three northeast Missouri watersheds. Seven natural forest buffers without grass filters were inventoried and found to be composed of dense stands of mixed tree species with a forest floor cover comprised largely of unrooted woody plant debris, which does not adequately buffer concentrated runoff. Seventy-four CFPs were found in row crop fields along 10 natural forest buffers with or without grass filters established using USDA conservation practice standards. Natural forest buffers without grass filters dispersed 80 [percent] of CFPs before they reached the stream, while those with grass filters dispersed 100 [percent]. We estimated 473 metric tons of sediment moved to the buffers/filters via CFPs since last tillage. Nine of the 74 CFPs passed completely through natural forest buffers without grass filters, and accounted for 97 metric tons of the total estimated 473 metric tons. The average width of breached forest buffers without grass filters was 12.8 m, while the width of those not breached was 17.9 m. Average width of cool-season grass filters (CSGF) adjacent to forest buffers was 17.6 m, while average width of warm season grass filters (WSGF) was 22.1 m. These data, along with previous research, suggest that adding a grass filter along narrow natural forest buffers would improve water quality by reducing sediment loss to streams.K.W. Knight (1), R.C. Schultz (2), C.M. Mabry (2), T.M. Isenhart (2), and L. Long (2) ; 1. The Nature Conservancy, Skagit River Office, 410 N. 4th St., Mt. Vernon, WA 98273. 2. Dept. of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, 339 Science II, Ames, Iowa 50011-3221.Includes bibliographical references

Comparison of Grain Sources (Barley, White Corn, and Yellow Corn) for Swine Diets and Their Effect on Production and Carcass Traits

Energy sources differ in content, quality, and availability of nutrients. The objective of this study was to identify and compare differences in production and carcass traits in pigs fed different energy sources. While pigs fed a barley-based diet had a smaller loin muscle area, there was no difference among diets when comparing fat depth or percent fat-free lean. Barley based-diets and a diet containing one-third yellow corn and two-thirds white corn had a lower lean gain per day on test. There was no significant difference in average daily gain or feed-to-gain ratios

Growth Comparison and Fecal Mineral Excretion of Inorganic and Organic Trace Mineral Supplementation in Swine

Fecal Analysis, off-test weights, and ultrasonic measurements were used to determine the response of BioplexTM trace minerals on the fecal mineral excretion (copper Cu, iron Fe, and zinc Zn) and growth and performance traits measured on live pigs (n=528). The use of BioplexTM mineral supplementation on phase fed growfinish pigs could potentially decrease the amount of heavy metal and nutrient excretion without impacting the overall performance of the animal. These organic mineral supplements can ultimately be fed to finishing swine without having a significant effect on percent lean (live or carcass), loin muscle area (LMA), backfat (BF10), average daily gain (ADG), or feed efficiency (FE). The use of BioplexTM trace minerals has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of swine production without any loss of production efficiency to the producer. Future work in the use of BioplexTM trace minerals and other mechanisms to reduce the environmental impact of swine production is warranted

Isolated Medial Cuneiform Fractures: A Systematic Search and Qualitative Analysis of Case Studies

Background: Isolated medial cuneiform fracture is a rare but diagnostically challenging condition. Diagnostic delay in these cases may lead to delays in ideal treatment approaches and prolonged symptoms. An understanding of clinical presentation is needed to expedite diagnosis, facilitate decision making, and guide treatment approach. Methods: Case studies/series were searched in four databases until September 2019. Included studies had participants with a history of traumatic closed medial cuneiform fracture. Studies were excluded if the medial cuneiform fractures were open fractures, associated with multitrauma, or associated with dislocation/Lisfranc injury. Three blinded reviewers assessed the methodological quality of the studies, and a qualitative synthesis was performed. Results: Ten studies comprising 15 patients were identified. Mean ± SD patient age was 38.0 ± 12.8 years, with 86.7% of reported participants being men. The overall methodological quality was moderate to high, and reporting of the patient selection criteria was poor overall. The most commonly reported clinical symptoms were localized tenderness (60.0%) and edema (53.3%). Direct blow was the most common inciting trauma (46.2%), followed by axial load (30.8%) and avulsion injuries (23.1%). Baseline radiographs were occult in 72.7% of patients; magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography were the most common diagnostic modalities. Mean ± SD diagnostic delay was 64.7 ± 89.6 days. Conservative management was pursued in 54.5% of patients, with reported resolution of symptoms in 3 to 6 months. Surgical intervention occurred in 45.5% of patients and resulted in functional restoration in 3 to 6 months in all but one patient. Conclusions: Initial radiographs for isolated medial cuneiform fractures are frequently occult. Due to expedience and relatively low cost, radiographs are still a viable first-line imaging modality. If clinical concern remains, magnetic resonance imaging may be pursued to minimize diagnostic delay. Conservative management is a viable treatment method, with expected return to full function in 3 to 6 months

New measurements of total ionizing dose in the lunar environment

[1] We report new measurements of solar minimum ionizing radiation dose at the Moon onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) from June 2009 through May 2010. The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) instrument on LRO houses a compact and highly precise microdosimeter whose design allows measurements of dose rates below 1 micro-Rad per second in silicon achieved with minimal resources (20 g, ∼250 milliwatts, and ∼3 bits/second). We envision the use of such a small yet accurate dosimeter in many future spaceflight applications where volume, mass, and power are highly constrained. As this was the first operation of the microdosimeter in a space environment, the goal of this study is to verify its response by using simultaneous measurements of the galactic cosmic ray ionizing environment at LRO, at L1, and with other concurrent dosimeter measurements and model predictions. The microdosimeter measured the same short timescale modulations in the galactic cosmic rays as the other independent measurements, thus verifying its response to a known source of minimum-ionizing particles. The total dose for the LRO mission over the first 333 days was only 12.2 Rads behind ∼130 mils of aluminum because of the delayed rise of solar activity in solar cycle 24 and the corresponding lack of intense solar energetic particle events. The dose rate in a 50 km lunar orbit was about 30 percent lower than the interplanetary rate, as one would expect from lunar obstruction of the visible sky

Total cost estimation for implementing genome-enabled selection in a multi-level swine production system

Background: Determining an animal’s genetic merit using genomic information can improve estimated breeding value (EBV) accuracy; however, the magnitude of the accuracy improvement must be large enough to recover the costs associated with implementing genome-enabled selection. One way to reduce costs is to genotype nucleus herd selection candidates using a low-density chip and to use high-density chip genotyping for animals that are used as parents in the nucleus breeding herd. The objective of this study was to develop a tool to estimate the cost structure associated with incorporating genome-enabled selection into multi-level commercial breeding programs. Results: For the purpose of this deterministic study, it was assumed that a commercial pig is created from a terminal line sire and a dam that is a cross between two maternal lines. It was also assumed that all male and female selection candidates from the 1000 sow maternal line nucleus herds were genotyped at low density and all animals used for breeding at high density. With the assumptions used in this analysis, it was estimated that genome-enabled selection costs for a maternal line would be approximately US$0.082 per weaned pig in the commercial production system. A total of US$0.164 per weaned pig is needed to incorporate genome-enabled selection into the two maternal lines. Similarly, for a 600 sow terminal line nucleus herd and genotyping only male selection candidates with the low-density panel, the cost per weaned pig in the commercial herd was estimated to be US$0.044. This means that US$0.21 per weaned pig produced at the commercial level and sired by boars obtained from the nucleus herd breeding program needs to be added to the genetic merit value in order to break even on the additional cost required when genome-enabled selection is used in both maternal lines and the terminal line. Conclusions: By modifying the input values, such as herd size and genotyping strategy, a flexible spreadsheet tool developed from this work can be used to estimate the additional costs associated with genome-enabled selection. This tool will aid breeders in estimating the economic viability of incorporating genome-enabled selection into their specific breeding program