Carcass Gain, Efficiency, and Profitability of Steers at Extended Days on Feed

Steers were individually fed for 22 and 44 days longer than the industry average marketing point of 0.5” backfat to determine carcass- based gain, efficiency, and deposition changes throughout the feeding period (142, 163, and 184 days on feed). Premiums and discounts for yield grade, quality grade, and overweight carcasses were applied to determine profitability. Feeding steers for 22 and 44 days longer increased carcass weight, quality grade, and yield grade 4 and 5s. Steers fed 44 days longer had increased total revenue and profit per head despite a decrease in live gain and efficiency

Correlated changes in perceptions of the gender and orientation of ambiguous biological motion figures

SummaryThe sensitivity of the mammalian visual system to biological motion cues has been shown to be general and acute [1–3]. Human observers, in particular, can deduce higher-order information, such as the orientation of a figure (which way it is facing), its gender, emotional state, and even personality traits, on the basis only of sparse motion cues. Even when the stimulus information is confined to point lights attached to the major joints of an actor (so-called point-light figures), observers can use information about the way the actor is moving to tell what they are doing, whether they are a male or female, and how they are feeling [4–6]. Here we report the novel finding that stimulus manipulations that made such walkers appear more female also had the effect of making the walkers appear more often as if they were walking away from rather than towards observers. Using frontal-view (or rear-view) point-light displays of human walkers, we asked observers to judge whether they seemed to be walking towards or away from the viewing position. Independent of their own gender, observers reliably reported those figures they perceived to be male as looking like they were approaching (as reported in [7]), but those they perceived to be female as walking away. Furthermore, figures perceived to be gender-neutral also appeared more often, although not exclusively, to be walking towards observers

NSSE 2020 Follow-Up: Using Results Collected During The COVID-19 Pandemic

NSSE webinar to discuss findings about assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic, results from preliminary data analysis and how to use spring data collection to inform planning

Status Report of the DPHEP Study Group: Towards a Global Effort for Sustainable Data Preservation in High Energy Physics

Data from high-energy physics (HEP) experiments are collected with significant financial and human effort and are mostly unique. An inter-experimental study group on HEP data preservation and long-term analysis was convened as a panel of the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA). The group was formed by large collider-based experiments and investigated the technical and organisational aspects of HEP data preservation. An intermediate report was released in November 2009 addressing the general issues of data preservation in HEP. This paper includes and extends the intermediate report. It provides an analysis of the research case for data preservation and a detailed description of the various projects at experiment, laboratory and international levels. In addition, the paper provides a concrete proposal for an international organisation in charge of the data management and policies in high-energy physics

Different Conceptualizations of River Basins to Inform Management of Environmental Flows

Environmental flows are a critical tool for addressing ecological degradation of river systems brought about by increasing demand for limited water resources. The importance of basin scale management of environmental flows has long been recognized as necessary if managers are to achieve social, economic, and environmental objectives. The challenges in managing environmental flows are now emerging and include the time taken for changes to become manifest, uncertainty around large-scale responses to environmental flows and that most interventions take place at smaller scales. The purpose of this paper is to describe how conceptual models can be used to inform the development, and subsequent evaluation of ecological objectives for environmental flows at the basin scale. Objective setting is the key initial step in environmental flow planning and subsequently provides a foundation for effective adaptive management. We use the implementation of the Basin Plan in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) as an example of the role of conceptual models in the development of environmental flow objectives and subsequent development of intervention monitoring and evaluation, key steps in the adaptive management of environmental flows. The implementation of the Basin Plan was based on the best science available at the time, however, this was focused on ecosystem responses to environmental flows. The monitoring has started to reveal that limitations in our conceptualization of the basin may reduce the likelihood of achieving of basin scale objectives. One of the strengths of the Basin Plan approach was that it included multiple conceptual models informing environmental flow management. The experience in the MDB suggests that the development of multiple conceptual models at the basin scale will help increase the likelihood that basin-scale objectives will be achieved

14th Annual Conference on Legal Issues For Financial Institutions

Materials from the 14th Annual Conference on Legal Issues For Financial Institutions held by UK/CLE in March 1994

15th Annual Legal Issues for Financial Institutions Conference

Program and materials from the 15th Annual Legal Issues for Financial Institutions Conference held by UK/CLE on March 10-11, 1995

Dysexecutive symptoms and carer strain following acquired brain injury: changes measured before and after holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation

BACKGROUND: Following acquired brain injury (ABI), deficits in executive functioning (EF) are common. As a result many brain-injured patients encounter problems in every-day functioning, and their families experience significant strain. Previous research has documented the benefits of cognitive rehabilitation for executive dysfunction, and rehabilitation programmes designed to ameliorate functional problems associated with ABI. OBJECTIVES: This study primarily aims to evaluate whether a neuropsychological rehabilitation programme reduces reported symptoms of everyday dysexecutive behaviour and carer strain. METHODS: In this study 66 ABI outpatients attended comprehensive holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation programme. A repeated-measures design was employed to determine the effect of rehabilitation on EF and carer strain, as part of a service evaluation. Outcome measures comprised the dysexecutive questionnaire (DEX/DEX-I) and carer strain index (CSI), applied pre- and post-rehabilitation. RESULTS: Results indicate rehabilitation benefited clients and carers in 5 of 6 DEX/DEX-I subscales, and 2 of 3 CSI subscales, (p<.05). An effect of aetiology on rehabilitation was found on the metacognitive scale of the DEX-I. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, this study supports a comprehensive holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation programme as effective in reducing reported symptoms of dysexecutive behaviour and carer strain following ABI

Small Unmanned Aircraft System for Pavement Inspection: Task 4\u2014Execute the Field Demonstration Plan and Analyze the Collected Data

The primary objectives of this research project are to develop recommended processes and procedures for using small unmanned/uncrewed aircraft system (sUAS) to complement current methods of airport Pavement Management Program (PMP) inspections and to evaluate various types of sUAS platforms and sensors that will lead to recommended minimum specifications required for consistently safe, reliable, and effective sUAS-assisted airport PMP inspections. Under Task 4, the research team developed and executed field demonstrated plans to safely deploy several sUAS at six airports in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and New Jersey from December 2020 to August 2021. Red, green, and blue (RGB) optical orthophotos, digital elevation models (DEMs), hillshades derived from DEMs, and thermal orthophotos collected using several sUAS at different altitudes were analyzed for their usefulness in airfield distress detection. Based on the data analyses and results, RGB orthophotos of 1.5 mm/pixel and DEMs of 6 mm/pixel resolution, or higher, are highly recommended for airfield pavement distress detection and rating

Dates as data revisited: A statistical examination of the Peruvian preceramic radiocarbon record

This paper adopts a formal model-testing approach to the Peruvian radiocarbon (14C) record, the site of the first aggregate analysis of this type of archaeological data. Using a large and improved regional dataset of radiometric determinations (n = 1180) from the period 14000–3000 14C years before present, the study performs a comparative analysis of the demographic trajectories of two sub-regions, the desert coast and Andean highlands. Against the backdrop of theoretical models of population growth, and controlling for taphonomic factors and sampling biases, the study performs global significance and permutation tests on the data. These provide a necessary measure of statistical confidence that have hereto been absent from the discussion of pre-Columbian demography. Contrary to the findings of prior work, this study of radiocarbon data in Peru reveals that regional trends in the data are statistically indistinguishable. Further testing and comparison to climate archives is able to illustrate sustained population growth over the entire Holocene epoch in this region, with only a few notable exceptions at the end of the mid-Holocene (5000 cal BP). The findings of the analysis are viewed in relation to the cultural and technological changes that indigenous societies experienced in the timeframe in question, and some directions for methodological advances are suggested