Management factors that influence farm profits in southwest Illinois : a study based on records from more than a hundred farms in the wheat and dairy area neighboring St. Louis

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references

The Bailey Point Region and Other Muskox Refugia in the Canadian Arctic: A Short Review

The muskox (Ovibos moschatus) is widely distributed over much of arctic Canada but only at a few locations do their densities remain high and populations relatively stable. These refugia constitute the most favourable muskox ranges in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago .... Refugia for muskoxen in the High Arctic include lowlands on eastern Axel Heiberg Island in the Mokka Fiord region, the lowlands of northeastern Devon Island, and the Bailey Point region of Melville Island .... All of those regions historically have supported high densities of muskoxen from time to time but the Bailey Point region must be considered the best habitat for muskoxen in the Canadian High Arctic. ..

Novel imaging method to quantify stratum corneum in dermatopharmacokinetic studies:Proof-of-concept with acyclovir formulations

Purpose: Tape stripping the stratum corneum (SC) is used in topical bioequivalence studies. Formulations are compared using drug concentration profiles as a function of relative SC position; both of these parameters require quantification of SC amount removed per tape. Here, a novel imaging method to quantify SC on tape strips is described. Comparisons are made with established SC quantification methods, specifically weighing and UV pseudo-absorption. Methods: Six stratum corneum tape strips were measured 15 times by the three methods, which were compared for precision, signal:noise ratio, sample size and speed. Furthermore, 600 tape strips were assayed by each method, and correlations examined. Results: Weighing exhibited low precision, extremely low signal:noise ratio, and was slow. UV pseudo-absorption had high precision, acceptable signal:noise ratio and was quick. However, only a fraction of the total SC removed is analysed, and inhomogeneity can affect the results. The new imaging method was precise, with high signal:noise ratio, and measured the whole SC sample, unaffected by inhomogeneity. In addition, the approach was rapid and has the potential for fast automated scanning of multiple tapes and for further image analysis. Conclusion: The novel imaging method has many advantages over established methods for quantifying SC amount per tape.</p

Fermionic Molecular Dynamics for nuclear dynamics and thermodynamics

A new Fermionic Molecular Dynamics (FMD) model based on a Skyrme functional is proposed in this paper. After introducing the basic formalism, some first applications to nuclear structure and nuclear thermodynamics are presentedComment: 5 pages, Proceedings of the French-Japanese Symposium, September 2008. To be published in Int. J. of Mod. Phys.

Development and Technical Adequacy of the District Capacity Assessment

The purpose of this article is to describe the methods and results used to establish the district capacity assessment’s (DCA) content validity, response process validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability. The DCA measures a district’s ability to support school-level implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). Assessment results are then used to guide action planning. The DCA is grounded in the understanding that districts must develop knowledge and skills in the use of implementation science methods if they are to support successful use of an innovation. Specifically, three studies were conducted. The first study established the DCA’s content validity, that is, the extent to which the DCA represents constructs comprising district-level implementation capacity. The second study established the DCA’s internal structure, or the relationships among the items compared to the constructs being measured and how well the items measured the same construct. The third and final study assessed how the results of the DCA varied over time, thus establishing the instrument’s test–retest reliability. District Implementation Teams, researchers, or facilitators who use the DCA can be confident that the assessment is founded on research drawing from implementation science practices and methods

Stellar structure and compact objects before 1940: Towards relativistic astrophysics

Since the mid-1920s, different strands of research used stars as "physics laboratories" for investigating the nature of matter under extreme densities and pressures, impossible to realize on Earth. To trace this process this paper is following the evolution of the concept of a dense core in stars, which was important both for an understanding of stellar evolution and as a testing ground for the fast-evolving field of nuclear physics. In spite of the divide between physicists and astrophysicists, some key actors working in the cross-fertilized soil of overlapping but different scientific cultures formulated models and tentative theories that gradually evolved into more realistic and structured astrophysical objects. These investigations culminated in the first contact with general relativity in 1939, when J. Robert Oppenheimer and his students George Volkoff and Hartland Snyder systematically applied the theory to the dense core of a collapsing neutron star. This pioneering application of Einstein's theory to an astrophysical compact object can be regarded as a milestone in the path eventually leading to the emergence of relativistic astrophysics in the early 1960s.Comment: 83 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the European Physical Journal

Panspermia, Past and Present: Astrophysical and Biophysical Conditions for the Dissemination of Life in Space

Astronomically, there are viable mechanisms for distributing organic material throughout the Milky Way. Biologically, the destructive effects of ultraviolet light and cosmic rays means that the majority of organisms arrive broken and dead on a new world. The likelihood of conventional forms of panspermia must therefore be considered low. However, the information content of dam-aged biological molecules might serve to seed new life (necropanspermia).Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Review

Can tonne-scale direct detection experiments discover nuclear dark matter?

Models of nuclear dark matter propose that the dark sector contains large composite states consisting of dark nucleons in analogy to Standard Model nuclei. We examine the direct detection phenomenology of a particular class of nuclear dark matter model at the current generation of tonne-scale liquid noble experiments, in particular DEAP-3600 and XENON1T. In our chosen nuclear dark matter scenario distinctive features arise in the recoil energy spectra due to the non-point-like nature of the composite dark matter state. We calculate the number of events required to distinguish these spectra from those of a standard point-like WIMP state with a decaying exponential recoil spectrum. In the most favourable regions of nuclear dark matter parameter space, we find that a few tens of events are needed to distinguish nuclear dark matter from WIMPs at the $3\,\sigma$ level in a single experiment. Given the total exposure time of DEAP-3600 and XENON1T we find that at best a $2\,\sigma$ distinction is possible by these experiments individually, while $3\,\sigma$ sensitivity is reached for a range of parameters by the combination of the two experiments. We show that future upgrades of these experiments have potential to distinguish a large range of nuclear dark matter models from that of a WIMP at greater than $3\,\sigma$.Comment: 23 pages, 7 multipanel figure

Vertical distribution and migration of fish larvae in the NW Iberian upwelling system during the winter mixing period: implications for cross-shelf distribution

The vertical distribution and vertical migrations of fish larvae and implications for their cross-shelf distribution were investigated in the northern limit of the NE Atlantic upwelling region during the late winter mixing period of 2012. The average positive values of the upwelling index for February and March of this year were far from normal, although the average hydrographic conditions during the period of study were of downwelling and the water column was completely mixed. Fish larvae, most in the preflexion stage, were concentrated in the upper layers of the water column and their distribution was depth stratified, both day and night. However, the larval fish community was not structured in the vertical plane and fish larvae did not show significant diel vertical migration (DVM), although five species showed ontogenetic vertical migration. In regions of coastal upwelling and in the absence of DVM, the location of fish larvae in the water column is crucial for their cross-shelf distribution. Thus, the cross-shelf distribution of the six most abundant species collected in this study can be explained by the surface onshore flow associated with coastal downwelling, retaining larvae of the coastal spawning species with a relatively shallow distribution in the shelf region and transporting larvae of slope spawning species onto the shelf. The wide vertical distribution shown by larvae of the offshore spawning species could be an adaptation of these species to ensure that some larvae reach the inshore nursery areasPlan Nacional de I+D+i (CRAMERCTM2010- 21856-CO3-02), Junta de Galicia (ECOPREGA-10MMA602021PR), Principado de Asturias (GRUPIN14-144)Postprint2,044

First Observation of Coherent π0\pi^0 Production in Neutrino Nucleus Interactions with Eν<E_{\nu}< 2 GeV

The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab has amassed the largest sample to date of $\pi^0$s produced in neutral current (NC) neutrino-nucleus interactions at low energy. This paper reports a measurement of the momentum distribution of $\pi^0$s produced in mineral oil (CH$_2$) and the first observation of coherent $\pi^0$ production below 2 GeV. In the forward direction, the yield of events observed above the expectation for resonant production is attributed primarily to coherent production off carbon, but may also include a small contribution from diffractive production on hydrogen. Integrated over the MiniBooNE neutrino flux, the sum of the NC coherent and diffractive modes is found to be (19.5 $\pm$1.1 (stat) $\pm$2.5 (sys))% of all exclusive NC $\pi^0$ production at MiniBooNE. These measurements are of immediate utility because they quantify an important background to MiniBooNE's search for $\nu_{\mu} \to \nu_e$ oscillations.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett.