My Southern Queen

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4014/thumbnail.jp

Finding the Center of Mass of a Soft Spring

This article shows how to use calculus to find the center of mass position of a soft cylindrical helical spring that is suspended vertically. The spring is non-uniformly stretched by the action of gravity. A general expression for the vertical position of the center of mass is obtained.Comment: LaTeX, 7 pages, 2 figures. Minor changes to agree with published versio

Behaviour of Cold-Formed Steel Semi Rigid Connections

Ductility and inelastic performance are important considerations in aseismic design of buildings. The dissipation of energy due to inelastic deformation is predominantly required in the connections like beam column joints. It is necessary to design these joints as semi rigid for its economic and structural benefits. Semi-rigid connections have highly nonlinear behaviour that makes the analysis and design of frames difficult and complicated. Steel structures are highly regarded for their seismic performance. It is required to understand and study the inelastic behavior of steel connections which would help in an economical and simpler design. This paper involves the modeling of deformational behaviour of a cold formed steel connection in a finite element software simulating the real time behavior. The ultimate moment and rotation is studied for different semi rigid connections after validation of the model

Total energy intake and self-selected macronutrient distribution during wildland fire suppression

Introduction: Wildland firefighters (WLFF) work long hours in extreme environments resulting in high daily total energy expenditure (TEE). Increasing work shift eating episodes and/or providing rations that promote convenient feeding has shown augmented self-selected work output, as has regular carbohydrate (CHO) consumption. It remains unclear how current WLFF feeding strategies compare to more frequent nutrient delivery. Our study’s aim was to determine WLFFs’ self-selected field total energy intake (TEI), composition, and patterns feeding during wildland fire suppression shifts. Methods: 86 WLFF (16 female, 70 male; 27.5 ± 6.4 yr) deployed to fire incidents across the United States throughout the 2018 fire season. Pre- and post-shift food inventories collected at basecamp provided item-specific nutrient content (calories [kcal], CHO, fat, protein). Work shift consumption (TEI, feeding frequency, episodic composition) was monitored in real-time by field researchers on fireline via observational data capture using mobile tablets. Shift work output was determined via actigraph accelerometry. Results: Work shift length averaged 14.0 ± 1.1 hr, with a TEI of 6.3 ± 2.5 MJ (1494 ± 592 kcal) (51 ± 10, 37 ± 9, 13 ± 4% for CHO, fat, and protein, respectively). WLFF averaged 4.3 ± 1.6 eating episodes (1.4 ± 1.3 MJ [345 ± 306 kcal] and 44 ± 38 g CHO.episode-1). WLFF who consumed \u3e20 kcal.kg-1 averaged less sedentary activity than those consuming \u3c16 kcal.kg-1. Conclusion: The present work shift TEI approximates 33% of previously-determined WLFF TEE and demonstrates that current WLFF consumption patterns may not deliver adequate nutrients for the occupational demands

STRATEGIC AGRIBUSINESS OPERATION REALIGNMENT IN THE TEXAS PRISON SYSTEM

Mathematical programming-based systems analysis is used to examine the consequences of alternative operation configuration for the agricultural operations within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Continuation versus elimination of the total operation as well as individual operating departments are considered. Methodology includes a firm systems operation model combined with capital budgeting and an integer programming based investment model. Results indicate the resources realize a positive return as a whole, but some enterprises are not using resources profitably. The integer investment model is found to be superior for investigating whether to continue multiple interrelated enterprises.agribusiness, enterprise selection, mathematical programming, optimal enterprise organization, Agribusiness,

Comparative Analysis of Tandem Repeats from Hundreds of Species Reveals Unique Insights into Centromere Evolution

Centromeres are essential for chromosome segregation, yet their DNA sequences evolve rapidly. In most animals and plants that have been studied, centromeres contain megabase-scale arrays of tandem repeats. Despite their importance, very little is known about the degree to which centromere tandem repeats share common properties between different species across different phyla. We used bioinformatic methods to identify high-copy tandem repeats from 282 species using publicly available genomic sequence and our own data. The assumption that the most abundant tandem repeat is the centromere DNA was true for most species whose centromeres have been previously characterized, suggesting this is a general property of genomes. Our methods are compatible with all current sequencing technologies. Long Pacific Biosciences sequence reads allowed us to find tandem repeat monomers up to 1,419 bp. High-copy centromere tandem repeats were found in almost all animal and plant genomes, but repeat monomers were highly variable in sequence composition and in length. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of sequence homology showed little evidence of sequence conservation beyond ~50 million years of divergence. We find that despite an overall lack of sequence conservation, centromere tandem repeats from diverse species showed similar modes of evolution, including the appearance of higher order repeat structures in which several polymorphic monomers make up a larger repeating unit. While centromere position in most eukaryotes is epigenetically determined, our results indicate that tandem repeats are highly prevalent at centromeres of both animals and plants. This suggests a functional role for such repeats, perhaps in promoting concerted evolution of centromere DNA across chromosomes

Exact quantization of a PT-symmetric (reversible) Li\'enard-type nonlinear oscillator

We carry out an exact quantization of a PT symmetric (reversible) Li\'{e}nard type one dimensional nonlinear oscillator both semiclassically and quantum mechanically. The associated time independent classical Hamiltonian is of non-standard type and is invariant under a combined coordinate reflection and time reversal transformation. We use von Roos symmetric ordering procedure to write down the appropriate quantum Hamiltonian. While the quantum problem cannot be tackled in coordinate space, we show how the problem can be successfully solved in momentum space by solving the underlying Schr\"{o}dinger equation therein. We obtain explicitly the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions (in momentum space) and deduce the remarkable result that the spectrum agrees exactly with that of the linear harmonic oscillator, which is also confirmed by a semiclassical modified Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rule, while the eigenfunctions are completely different.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, Fast Track Communicatio

WormBase 2007

WormBase (www.wormbase.org) is the major publicly available database of information about Caenorhabditis elegans, an important system for basic biological and biomedical research. Derived from the initial ACeDB database of C. elegans genetic and sequence information, WormBase now includes the genomic, anatomical and functional information about C. elegans, other Caenorhabditis species and other nematodes. As such, it is a crucial resource not only for C. elegans biologists but the larger biomedical and bioinformatics communities. Coverage of core areas of C. elegans biology will allow the biomedical community to make full use of the results of intensive molecular genetic analysis and functional genomic studies of this organism. Improved search and display tools, wider cross-species comparisons and extended ontologies are some of the features that will help scientists extend their research and take advantage of other nematode species genome sequences