Chemical oxygen demand fate from cottage cheese (acid) whey applied to a sodic soil

Cottage cheese (acid) whey is an effective amendment in sodic soil reclamation, but the high chemical oxygen demand (COD) of whey is of concern in land application. The objective of this research was to determine the fate of COD from cottage cheese whey applied to a sodic soil. Treatments of 0, 25, 50, and 100 mm (0, 20, 40, and 80 Mg COD ha-1) of whey were applied to dry-unacclimated Freedom silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic, Xerollic Calciorthids) in greenhouse lysimeters. The COD from lysimeter leachate at 1 m depth was monitored. Ninety days after whey application, total accumulative leachate COD for 0-, 25-, and 50-mm whey applications was not significantly different. Leachate COD concentrations from the 100-mm application reached 37% (29 400 mg COD L-1) of the applied whey COD. Twenty-eight days after whey treatment, infiltration was reduced in all whey-treated lysimeters, probably as a result of increased microbial activity. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L cv. Ludd) grain yield was 0.0, 0.0, 0.44, and 0.26 kg m-2 and total dry matter yield was 0.54, 0.72, 2.0, and 1.4 kg m-2 for the 0-, 25-, 50-, and 100-mm treatments, respectively. Salts and/or organic overloading appeared to inhibit initial barley growth in the 100-mm treatment. Results indicate a single 100-mm application to be excessive in terms of organic matter and/or salts

Building a Better Racetrack

We find IIb compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds in which all Kahler moduli are stabilized, along lines suggested by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi.Comment: 47 pages, 1 figure, harvmac (v2: added references, minor comments, v3: improved discussion of metastability and explicit flux vacua

Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory

Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from Sagittarius $A$. Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth

The Cold Classical Kuiper Belt, a class of small bodies in undisturbed orbits beyond Neptune, are primitive objects preserving information about Solar System formation. The New Horizons spacecraft flew past one of these objects, the 36 km long contact binary (486958) Arrokoth (2014 MU69), in January 2019. Images from the flyby show that Arrokoth has no detectable rings, and no satellites (larger than 180 meters diameter) within a radius of 8000 km, and has a lightly-cratered smooth surface with complex geological features, unlike those on previously visited Solar System bodies. The density of impact craters indicates the surface dates from the formation of the Solar System. The two lobes of the contact binary have closely aligned poles and equators, constraining their accretion mechanism

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Chemical oxygen demand fate from cottage cheese (acid) whey applied to a sodic soil

Cottage cheese (acid) whey is an effective amendment in sodic soil reclamation, but the high chemical oxygen demand (COD) of whey is of concern in land application. The objective of this research was to determine the fate of COD from cottage cheese whey applied to a sodic soil. Treatments of 0, 25, 50, and 100 mm (0, 20, 40, and 80 Mg COD ha-1) of whey were applied to dry-unacclimated Freedom silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic, Xerollic Calciorthids) in greenhouse lysimeters. The COD from lysimeter leachate at 1 m depth was monitored. Ninety days after whey application, total accumulative leachate COD for 0-, 25-, and 50-mm whey applications was not significantly different. Leachate COD concentrations from the 100-mm application reached 37% (29 400 mg COD L-1) of the applied whey COD. Twenty-eight days after whey treatment, infiltration was reduced in all whey-treated lysimeters, probably as a result of increased microbial activity. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L cv. Ludd) grain yield was 0.0, 0.0, 0.44, and 0.26 kg m-2 and total dry matter yield was 0.54, 0.72, 2.0, and 1.4 kg m-2 for the 0-, 25-, 50-, and 100-mm treatments, respectively. Salts and/or organic overloading appeared to inhibit initial barley growth in the 100-mm treatment. Results indicate a single 100-mm application to be excessive in terms of organic matter and/or salts