Spatial Price Discovery, Dynamics, and Leadership in Evolving Distiller’s Grain Markets

Recent dramatic growth in corn-based bio-refining has generated considerable growth in the by-product of this process, distiller’s grains. Distiller’s grains are rapidly becoming important livestock feed ingredient sources. However, little public market information is available on distiller’s grain. This study determines spatial and temporal price relationships among distiller’s grain markets. Results indicate spatial distiller’s grain markets operate somewhat independently suggesting potential arbitrage opportunities and indicating distiller’s grain markets are information starved. Furthermore, available futures markets are not viable price risk transfer tools for distiller’s grains.Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis,

Cutting Force and Temperature Prediction for Turning Processes

The machining process modeling software allows researchers to run simulations of real world situations without the costs and risks of operating the machining tool and mining a work piece or cutting tool.We ran several simulations with combinations of high speed steel, carbide, and cubic-boron-nitride for our tool materials, and 1045 steel, 15-5PH, or Inconel 718 for workpiece material options. The numerical simulations or experiments assumed physical, mechanical, and thermal properties representative of work-piece materials and tool material. Cutting forces were determined in the numerical simulations

Designing a Biomimetic Testing Platform for Actuators in a Series-Elastic Co-contraction System

Actuators determine the performance of robotic systems at the most intimate of levels. As a result, much work has been done to assess the performance of different actuator systems. However, biomimetics has not previously been utilized as a pretext for tuning a series elastic actuator system with the purpose of designing an empirical testing platform. Thus, an artificial muscle tendon system has been developed in order to assess the performance of two distinct actuator types: (1) direct current electromagnetic motors and (2) ultrasonic rotary piezoelectric motors. Because the design of the system takes advantage of biomimetic operating principles such as co-contraction in an agonist-antagonist configuration, it exists as an ideal system for testing different actuators for implicit performance attributes that may or may not come closer to the physiological performance of biological muscle. In order to assess the respective performances of the two actuator types, error and system efficiency were both measured simultaneously in an attempt to characterize the fidelity and efficacy of the force-feedback control system. Although both motor types were shown to perform competitively by torque error, the electromagnetic motors outperformed in terms of efficiency. It is ultimately concluded that either actuator type may perform more impressively than the other when operating under the appropriate context of application. Specifically, it remains the interpretation of this study that piezoelectric motors require a stiffer elasticity as well as an extremely fast controller frequency in order to fully take advantage of its ultra-fast response time characteristic for torque control

Rapid submarine ice melting in the grounding zones of ice shelves in West Antarctica.

Enhanced submarine ice-shelf melting strongly controls ice loss in the Amundsen Sea embayment (ASE) of West Antarctica, but its magnitude is not well known in the critical grounding zones of the ASE's major glaciers. Here we directly quantify bottom ice losses along tens of kilometres with airborne radar sounding of the Dotson and Crosson ice shelves, which buttress the rapidly changing Smith, Pope and Kohler glaciers. Melting in the grounding zones is found to be much higher than steady-state levels, removing 300-490 m of solid ice between 2002 and 2009 beneath the retreating Smith Glacier. The vigorous, unbalanced melting supports the hypothesis that a significant increase in ocean heat influx into ASE sub-ice-shelf cavities took place in the mid-2000s. The synchronous but diverse evolutions of these glaciers illustrate how combinations of oceanography and topography modulate rapid submarine melting to hasten mass loss and glacier retreat from West Antarctica

Clinical Outcomes After Four-Level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objectives: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) demonstrates reliable improvement in neurologic symptoms associated with anterior compression of the cervical spine. There is a paucity of data on outcomes following 4-level ACDFs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical outcomes for patients undergoing 4-level ACDF. Methods: All 4-level ACDFs with at least 1-year clinical follow-up were identified. Clinical outcomes, including fusion rates, neurologic outcomes, and reoperation rates were determined. Results: Retrospective review of our institutional database revealed 25 patients who underwent 4-level ACDF with at least 1-year clinical follow-up. Average age was 57.5 years (range 38.2-75.0 years); 14 (56%) were male, and average body mass index was 30.2 kg/m Conclusions: Review of our institution\u27s experience demonstrated a low rate of revision cervical surgery for any reason of 8% at mean 19 months follow-up, and neurological examinations consistently improved, despite a high rate of radiographic nonunion (31%)

Racial Ideology and Implementation of the Khmer Rouge Genocide

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1011/thumbnail.jp

Effects of patient education on knee joint injections and the impact on patient care and satisfaction in rural Guatemala

Background: As the rates of osteoarthritis increase among the elderly population across the world, the number of intra-articular corticosteroid injections has also steadily increased. The objective of this research study was to compare the ratings of anxiety level, pain level, and education about glucocorticoid injections between the group who received expansive education about joint injections and the group who received minimal education about joint injections. Methods: Each participant was given a pre-injection survey allowing them to rate their anxiety level, pain level, prior education level on knee injections, and duration and severity of symptoms. Each participant completed a post-injection survey following the procedure. Rating data were analyzed using a paired t-test to compare each of the groups to themselves and unpaired t-tests were used to compare the two groups. Demographic and survey data were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. Results: Statistical significance was noted when a paired t-test was run between pain levels before and after the knee injection was administered in group A and between pain levels before and after the knee injection was administered in group B (p<0.001). A paired t-test also showed statistical significance when comparing the educational levels before and after the knee injection was administered in group A (p=0.04). Conclusions: This research study showed that increased education on corticosteroid knee injections prior to the procedure demonstrated increased education on corticosteroid knee injections after the injection and decreased pain levels following the injection in participants with osteoarthritis in rural Guatemala

Temperature Response of 129 Xe Depolarization Transfer and Its Application for Ultrasensitive NMR Detection

Trapping xenon in functionalized cryptophane cages makes the sensitivity of hyperpolarized (HP) 129Xe available for specific NMR detection of biomolecules. Here, we study the signal transfer onto a reservoir of unbound HP xenon by gating the residence time of the nuclei in the cage through the temperature-dependant exchange rate. Temperature changes larger than ∼0.6  K are detectable as an altered reservoir signal. The temperature response is adjustable with lower concentrations of caged xenon providing more sensitivity at higher temperatures. Ultrasensitive detection of functionalized cryptophane at 310 K is demonstrated with a concentration of 10 nM, corresponding to a ∼4000−fold sensitivity enhancement compared to conventional detection. This makes HPNMR capable of detecting such constructs in concentrations far below the detection limit of benchtop uv-visible light absorbance

Transport of Hypoxic Waters: An Estuary-Subestuary Exchange

Hypoxic or anoxic conditions in the subpycnocline water of Chesapeake Bay persist throughout the summer. The effect on the dissolved oxygen concentration in the deep basin of the lower Rappahannock River, a subestuary on the western side of the bay, was studied with an observational program. The data indicate that in the lower portion of the water column the subtidal (or residual) current was directed into the subestuary most of the time. The mass fluxes of salt and dissolved oxygen into the subestuary through a point near the estuarine bottom at the river mouth were calculated for tidal and subtidal components respectively. From the analyses, we conclude that the mass exchange owing to the tidal component is at least an order of magnitude smaller than that resulting from the subtidal component. Characteristic differences in the properties of water transported into the subestuary were observed. On five occasions, each lasting about two days, during the one month period of field measurements, the imported water was characterized by low dissolved oxygen and high salinity, typically 3 to 4 mg 1−1 lower dissolved oxygen and 2 to 3 psu higher salinity than at other times. The low dissolved oxygen, high salinity water masses were all accompanied by strong subtidal current and southwest wind. During periods of strong wind from the southwest quadrant, the density-driven current near the bottom was enhanced by the wind-driven circulation. Furthermore, the surface set-up favors the transport of the water from the deep portion of the bay resulting from (1) tilting of the pycnocline in the bay and (2) shoreline and bathymétrie configurations around the estuary-subestuary junction.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsbooks/1169/thumbnail.jp

Signal transducer and activator of transcription-5 mediates neuronal apoptosis induced by inhibition of Rac GTPase activity.

In several neuronal cell types, the small GTPase Rac is essential for survival. We have shown previously that the Rho family GTPase inhibitor Clostridium difficile toxin B (ToxB) induces apoptosis in primary rat cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) principally via inhibition of Rac GTPase function. In the present study, incubation with ToxB activated a proapoptotic Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway, and a pan-JAK inhibitor protected CGNs from Rac inhibition. STAT1 expression was induced by ToxB; however, CGNs from STAT1 knock-out mice succumbed to ToxB-induced apoptosis as readily as wild-type CGNs. STAT3 displayed enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation following treatment with ToxB, and a reputed inhibitor of STAT3, cucurbitacin (JSI-124), reduced CGN apoptosis. Unexpectedly, JSI-124 failed to block STAT3 phosphorylation, and CGNs were not protected from ToxB by other known STAT3 inhibitors. In contrast, STAT5A tyrosine phosphorylation induced by ToxB was suppressed by JSI-124. In addition, roscovitine similarly inhibited STAT5A phosphorylation and protected CGNs from ToxB-induced apoptosis. Consistent with these results, adenoviral infection with a dominant negative STAT5 mutant, but not wild-type STAT5, significantly decreased ToxB-induced apoptosis of CGNs. Finally, chromatin immunoprecipitation with a STAT5 antibody revealed increased STAT5 binding to the promoter region of prosurvival Bcl-xL. STAT5 was recruited to the Bcl-xL promoter region in a ToxB-dependent manner, and this DNA binding preceded Bcl-xL down-regulation, suggesting transcriptional repression. These data indicate that a novel JAK/STAT5 proapoptotic pathway significantly contributes to neuronal apoptosis induced by the inhibition of Rac GTPase